What the Batman/Fortnite Comic Reveals About Fortnite

For several years now, I’ve been enraptured by how experimental Fortnite has been with its universe and how, somehow, there is an internal consistency throughout all of it that I could never get a grip on.

I watched speculation about a giant blue cube (nicknamed Kevin by the community) that moved to specific coordinates around the island, transporting anybody who touched it into a strange nether-realm before returning them to the sky.

I saw the island collapse into a black hole leaving the game offline and players stranded in a void for a dozen or so hours, before reforming into the new setting for Fortnite’s second chapter.

And yes, over the past year or so, I’ve watched licensed characters from Marvel, Star Wars, DC Comics, and innumerable other franchises appear in the game, bringing with them fragments of their own universe.

But if you asked me why this is happening, I honestly couldn’t tell you.

I imagine a lot of people couldn’t either, including long-term and die-hard players. All these moments have been part of a series of strange, eye-catching events that made for great and constant publicity for one of the world’s most popular games.

With the game having been in some form a development since 2011, I (and many other fans on subreddits and fan Wikis) have known Fortnite had a lot of lore hidden deep beneath the surface worth exploring for years. However ever since the Battle Royale mode blew up the games popularity and Save The World (and its story) has been unceremoniously benched in favour of themed events and crossovers .

It is very weird to my that Donald Mustard is now a comic book author.

That was why I was so excited by the new 6-issue comic series Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point. This series might not only might clarify the lore for a layperson, but, in the words of writer Christos Gage, “This series will reveal things about Fortnite that have never been seen or heard before yet are very much part of the canon of the game.”

So, to give you a summary of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1: This is a Batman story that’s set in the world of Fortnite (rather than a Fortnite story that Batman stars in). A crack appears in the sky above Gotham and Batman, while investigating it, is knocked in. Then he finds himself in the unfamiliar surroundings of the world of Fortnite and has to use his skillset to figure out what is going on and how he is going to escape.

Also, for those who are curious: no, he doesn’t pick up a shotgun and shoot people. True to form, he punches, kicks, and batarangs his way through the Fortnite island and leaves his foes unconscious, but alive (although presumably they’ll die as The Storm consumes them, which come to think of it might be a  far worse fate). 

No caption needed for this one tbh.

If this comic was the latest in a long line in bizarre crossover comics Batman has been involved in, it would be worth reading. Those comics have been great read,putting The Caped Crusader in situations with outlandish characters as he stoically refuses to be light-hearted. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was very silly and great fun and notably spawned the immortal line, “This is where I watched my parents die, Raphael.”

But Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1 isn’t this, instead it  ends up being an interesting speculative fiction story about the world of Fortnite. Despite starring The World’s Greatest Detective the comic focuses a lot on not just the world of Fortnite but how that world works. 

And so far what we’ve learnt is that the world of Fortnite is a horror show.

So, here’s something terrifying I learned while researching the lore in Fortnite. When a person arrives on the island, they are immediately “muted”. They literally cannot speak. Nobody can speak. This is the horrifying in-universe explanation for not including voice acting in the game (outside of the latest cinematic trailer, where the Troy Baker-voiced Agent Jonesy inexplicably breaks that rule)

Bruce Wayne has always been the “strong, silent type” so I guess he’s kinda used to this.

 Also, nobody has any memory of what came before. They have no memory of any previous loops (battle royales) they’ve experienced or even their life before entering Fortnite... nothing. They have 22 minutes of existence, and the loop resets. They forget everything else outside of the loop they’re currently on.

And that has been Batman/Fortnite: Point Zero so far. Batman awakes with no memories of his life before and tries to piece together how the world around him works, while also trying to piece together who he is. Spoilers for the comic, but at the end of it, Batman realises he is about to die as the storm comes in to consume him.

Then he just dies.

The nightmarish world of Fortnite has done in a single issue what Batman’s Rogues Gallery have been trying to do for 81 years. It turns out the island might be the most capable foe Batman has ever faced. It wipes its residents’ minds, prevents conversation, and, using the threat of the storm, pushes people into one other until they kill each other or die. Over and over and over.

Does this comic explain why the island is doing this? Not yet, but it’s clear it’s very much looking in that direction.

See, Batman makes a number of guesses about its purpose, suggesting a prison, a training ground, an asylum, an alien world, another dimension… But he comes to no solid conclusions.

“Clearly I’m being manipulated,” Batman thinks to himself, standing atop a red car on a hill. “And that’s one more for the “know” column: I don’t like being manipulated.”

Honestly this is the most interesting turn this comic could take, using a foreign IPs character to untangle the vague lore surrounding The Storm and who is actually making Fortnite and its battle royales happen.

Tory Baker seen here playing himself in a suit.

 It could end up being that Batman’s guesswork is just that and the island is simply a strange, random directionless thing that doesn’t conform to conventional logic. But... maybe this comic series is going to show for the first time the person behind the curtain. Or storm, if you will. Is it the Riddler? Is it an original character to be weaved into the game? Or maybe Tim Sweeney?

Time will tell.

Nevertheless, Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1 has proven to be a very substantial piece of world building for Fortnite. It’s asking a lot of big questions about the setting and I, for one, am fascinated to see where it’s headed.