Rick And Morty Fans Cooked Up A Spicy Theory About The Golden Portals And Diane
Over the years, "Rick and Morty" has proven itself to be a remarkably complex show, with a fan base who delights in trying to solve its many puzzles. Now, after new lore was introduced in the Season 5 finale and Season 6 premiere, a new fan theory is brewing that could shatter our understanding of Rick (Justin Roiland) and his family. But before we can get to the meat of this unusual theory, it's important to understand a few pieces of the "Rick and Morty" story: portal tech, the Central Finite Curve, and Rick's former wife, Diane (Kari Wahlgren).
As established in the Season 5 finale, Rick walled off the universes where he isn't the smartest being in existence, making it impossible to use portal tech to travel to them. This subset of hand-picked universes is known as the Central Finite Curve, and it's where every episode of "Rick and Morty" has thus far taken place. However, the Curve was destroyed in that episode. It is implied that Rick made the Curve after the death of Diane at the hands of another Rick.
A few times across the show, we've now seen a gold-colored portal, in contrast to the traditional green ones created by Rick's portal gun. Evil Morty (Justin Roiland) uses a golden portal at the end of Season 5. The best explanation for those off-yellow dimensional doorways is that they lead to universes outside of the Central Finite Curve, which is where Evil Morty escaped. But could there be a darker implication hidden within the golden portal realms? According to a new fan theory, there might be, in the form of Diane.
Could Diane be Rick and Morty's secret villain?
According to a theory posted to Reddit by u/4thvariety, Rick's ex-wife, Diane, could be the show's next big villain now that the Central Finite Curve is gone. Pointing out that Diane doesn't appear to exist in any of the universes we've seen thus far, the Redditor hypothesizes that universes inside the Central Curve are all universes where Rick has rid himself of Diane. If true, that would mean universes outside the Curve contain infinite Dianes, all of whom are infinitely mad at Rick for abandoning them. (The Rick we've been following for six seasons, whose Diane was killed by a rogue Rick, may be an outlier, the theory posits.) The dark implication here would be that the necessary criterion for a Rick to be considered the smartest being in his universe is that he removes Diane from that universe.
If any of this is true, which is admittedly a big "if," then it suggests Diane is the smartest being in existence, and probably the only threat Rick knows he can't take on. It also means Evil Morty has traveled to one of the universes that has a Diane and has brought with him the portal tech necessary to travel back into the Central Finite Curve. In summary, as the theory's creator put it, "Diane is coming, she is smarter than Rick and she is mad as hell."
While this theory has a low chance of coming true, it does answer a big potential plot hole in the show — namely, where are all the infinite versions of Diane? After all, we've seen countless iterations of Rick and Morty. But should it turn out to be true, Diane would undoubtedly be the greatest enemy Rick could imagine.