SPOILER ALERT: This textual content incorporates spoilers from “Rick and Morty” Season 8, Episode 7, “Ricker Than Fiction,” which aired Sunday, July 6 on Grownup Swim.

DC Studios CEO James Gunn and fellow filmmaker Zack Snyder made shock appearances on this week’s episode of “Rick and Morty,” lending their voices to customer star as over-the-top variations of themselves.

“They’d been good sports activities actions,” talked about “Rick and Morty” exec producer Scott Marder. “Every of those guys type of implied that that’s the current they watch as soon as they’ve downtime. In order that they’d been thrilled to get to be a part of the world, and there was no pushback or bristling. If one thing, they laughed at one thing we threw at them. There have been perhaps, frankly, rather more digs and further silly points we could have used. All they did was chortle it off.”

Gunn, particularly, was framed as a villain in Season 8 Episode 7, “Ricker Than Fiction.” Written by Rob Schrab, the episode kicks off with Rick and Morty not glad in regards to the creative route of their favorite movie franchise, “Most Velocitree.” In order that they head to the Warner Bros. lot — and further notably, they confront Gunn (the director and producer of “Most Velocitree”). After they’re not glad with Gunn’s response, Rick and Morty use Rick’s “Movie-lizer” to rewrite the franchise themselves.

Throughout the Warner Bros. cafeteria, Gunn runs proper right into a swole Snyder – and after some “Superman” ribbing (“Merely seen your new decrease of ‘Superman,’” Snyder tells Gunn, “and phrase of advice, he’s the ‘Man of Metallic,’ not the ‘Man of Dialog.’ Do additional pictures of him punching!”), Snyder tells him all about Rick Sanchez: “That’s the person who sealed Christopher Nolan inside the large bookcase to ‘punish’ him for ‘Interstellar.’ He doesn’t symbolize precise followers. He’s merely the best man inside the universe. Don’t sweat it. He can’t do what we do. Most probably.”

Finally, Rick and Morty — with the help of Jerry — deal with to actually give you a better ending, having been sucked into the Movie-lizer, and turning into new “Most Velocitree” villains. After they die inside the movie, Gunn tearfully proclaims: “They did it! What an ending! They out-done the Gunn!”

Rick and Morty uncover their method once more into the precise world, nevertheless Gunn steals the Movie-lizer’s onerous drive and takes it to Warner Bros. He tells “Mr. Brothers”: “They cracked the code! This acquired’t merely put butts in seats and promote popcorn, it could give people hope! It might save Hollywood, it could change each half.” Warner Brothers is impressed and tells his henchman: “Give this man a sundae!” Gunn is then killed by a gun named “Sundae.”

“I’m excited for the followers to get this one,” Marder talked about. “I actually really feel like they’re on a regular basis hungry for conventional ‘Rick and Morty’ episodes, ones that basically really feel like a gratifying plug-and-play, episode-of-the-week. This one feels desire it checks that area in an infinite method, nevertheless then has gratifying surprises.”

The considered the Movie-lizer had been floating throughout the writers’ room for a while, Marder talked about. Nonetheless initially it was the “Information-alizer,” and revolved spherical Jerry writing a novel. Then the thought pivoted to movies. “Most Velocitree” was dreamed up as a wink on the “Transformers” and “Fast and Furious” franchises.

“We had been like, if we’re going to do a movie and we’re going skewer Hollywood, we actually really feel like we’ve now to include our bosses,” he talked about. “So we started occupied with Warner Bros. Who’d be an excellent face to be sort of the villain proper right here? James Gunn merely appeared like such a wide variety. We had been all pretty sure that every time Schrab reached out Gunn he may be a million p.c within the midst of doing ‘Superman.’ Nonetheless he not solely did he reply instantly with a certain, nevertheless I really feel he ran it up the chain at Warner Bros. that exact same day. We had people on our manufacturing facet who had been like, ‘How is it that James Gunn and Zaslav and all these people already discover out about this episode?’ We didn’t suppose it may actually switch this shortly.”

In step with Marder, Gunn even made sure to hunt out time to stop by and do his strains inside the “Rick and Morty” recording gross sales area the morning after he accomplished principal manufacturing on “Superman.”

“I really feel Gunn known as people over him to make it attainable for this wasn’t going to mess one thing up. And it appeared like he purchased the inexperienced mild pretty shortly,” Marder talked about. “They every acquired right here in and had been really good sports activities actions. I’m a extremely proud nerd, I idolize every these guys. They’ve purchased creative freedom only some people have in Hollywood to take massive swings.”

Sequence co-creator Dan Harmon moreover purchased excited in regards to the considered every Gunn and Snyder exhibiting up — and joined in to jot down down that “Superman” dialogue between the two. “When he heard that they’d been on board and they also had been coming in, he type of cracked his knuckles and wanted to confirm the episode lived as a lot as and was worthy of them, having to ship these strains,” Marder talked about.

Gunn and Snyder recorded their strains back-to-back and took a picture collectively that day that went viral on-line. Nonetheless fortuitously for the current — which wanted to keep up their cameos a secret — no person picked up that that they’d run into each other on account of “Rick and Morty.”

“I love that we had been able to keep up it tight lips until now,” Marder talked about. “We’re pretty Fort Knox over proper right here, we’re really clamped down. One thing that goes out into most people we see, and we get approval on on account of the followers take a look at each half, identical to the Zapruder film or by the use of a jeweler’s lens.”

The storyline to “Ricker Than Fiction” was moreover meta, centering on fan discourse over franchises, sequels and long-running I.P. like every “Superman” and, certain, “Rick and Morty.”

“For sure, it’s a extremely extreme class state of affairs to have such a passionate viewers,” Marder talked about. “It was undoubtedly very pure to the episode. You’re on a regular basis listening to how all people could do it greater and the way in which it seems very easy. Rick and Morty suppose they’ll make a better movie. They’re given the keys to the dominion. And it’s not as easy as a result of it seems. Writing is completely onerous. It’s masses less complicated to sit down in your couch and nitpick one factor than it’s to do the heavy lifting of doing it your self. So that was all the stuff that we tried to do in a really gratifying, quick, kinetic method on this episode, with out being too up on a soapbox.”

Gunn is shot on the end of the episode, nevertheless who’s conscious of — he could on a regular basis return now that he’s a part of “Rick and Morty” canon. As for Snyder, the filmmaker is such a fan that he practically immediately requested to do additional.

“I direct all the voices, so I directed every these guys, and Snyder left, and he acquired right here once more like a fan, saying, ‘I’ll do one thing for the current. Throw me a tag. Throw me an element,’” Marder talked about. “It was merely cool to take heed to such enthusiasm from him.”

So how a couple of “Snyder decrease” of “Ricker Than Fiction”?

“That will probably be cool,” Marder talked about. “I do love an excellent Snyder decrease!”