Batman’s inFortniteNow, and He’s Just as Lost as You Are

Fortnite ’s intrusion of comics has no dubiousness left some people unaware of thesmash global phenomof a video biz / metaculture disastrous hole confused about just what the appeal of a affair that has seemingly taken over the planet really is . Well , Batman ’s among those people now , for very unlike reasons — but arrange the Dark Knight in Fortnite is already doing some very interesting things .

Weirdly , but perhaps weirdly appropriate for such a crossover , Batman / Fortnite : Zero Point # 1 — by Christos Gage , Reilly Brown , Nelson Faro DeCastro , John Kalisz , and Andworld Design — is not the first metre Batman has muss with the human race of Epic ’s monumental battle royale shooter . Batman and many of his fellow Gotham friends and frenemies , from the Joker and Harley Quinn to Catwoman andJason Momoa ’s Aquaman , have already appeared as in - game skin . Those appearance came without any specific story hooks like , say , the events related toAvengers : Endgame ’s collaborationwith the game .

thing are changing with Batman / Fortnite , which , aside from each issue come with themed hide for the plot — as if to remind you that all this , of course , is abranded smorgasbord of crossover weirdness — hopes to tell a story of what it actually intend for these characters to be flung into Fortnite ’s melting pot . That in and of itself is alike , not entirely raw either ; after all , the recentMarvel Comics seasonof Fortnite also includeda tie - in comicrevolving around Thor trying to save his fellow heroes from Fortnite ’s frenzied universe of cyclical destruction .

Batman finds himself ambushed in a world even stranger than Gotham City.

Batman finds himself ambushed in a world even stranger than Gotham City.Image: Reilly Brown, Nelson Faro DeCastro, and John Kalisz/DC Comics

But Batman / Fortnite ’s first consequence kick off with a way of using the nature of Fortnite as a round - base video recording game to conduct a fascinating view experimentation . If Batman is so gazump of everything he consider makes him Batman , from his reputation and his history to his allies and even his own voice , then , well , what is it about Batman that makes him Batman in the first place ?

Batman / Fortnite # 1 open up just as many of Fortnite ’s own pop ethnic collaborations have latterly : a foreign tear in reality has opened above our bomber ’s home existence — in this case , of course , Gotham city . After observe Harley Quinn spring into it with characteristic heady abandon , while attempting to look into the rip Batman is forcefully knocked into it by an unobserved assailant . knowing or otherwise , the solvent is much the same ; Batman now finds himself in the world ofone - time chug - jugsand engagement busses that is Fortnite .

As the biz has farm from just a video recording gaming phenom — as mere as such a affair can be — into a hybrid metaverse of bouncy concert , movie screenings , Hollywood promotional material events , and firebrand crossover , a certain kind of background ephemeron has ramp up up in Fortnite lore . In essence , it ’s an attempt to square the circle on what it actually means , from a textual standpoint , to have a round - base , one versus 100 dying equal in which Rey Skywalker can jump in next to Black Widow as Batman , fleeing a rearing Sarah Connor , and shotgun a walking sentient banana in a tuxedo before paragliding off of a drop .

Image: Reilly Brown, Nelson Faro DeCastro, John Kalisz, and Andworld Design/DC Comics

The answer we ’ve see play out in crossovers like the said Marvel comic is memory loss . Heroes enter Fortnite ’s world and are robbed of any knowledge of who they are , what they ’re doing , and where they ’re from — and are then thrust into the heat of a battle to survive , with a store that resets every time a round of Fortnite ends , either with one survivor stand or the mysterious violent storm that circle the game ’s island organisation closing in to annihilate all in its reaching . Batman front a like intellect - wipe upon waking up in Fortnite ’s world , but there ’s an interesting twist : when he first encounters someone , his initial reaction is not to struggle , even in self defence , but rather to try and talk his opponent down .

Except , Batman ca n’t . He ’s not just been robbed of his sense of self , but even his own voice , by Fortnite ’s planer of creation . And it ’s that that sets off an interesting issue of ego - breakthrough through , well … Fortnite , for our Dark Knight .

strip of everything he is in full term of his noesis and identity — thepersona of the Batman , that larger - than - animation symbol of determent and power that informs so much of the manner Bruce deals with problems in his home territory — what follows for much of Batman / Fortnite # 1 is an inner monologue . As the World ’s Greatest Detective is ram to rapidly acclimatize to his new position , he grasps onto what fiddling he can to find a sense of self . He knows , for model , that he and his opponents are trained fighters , otherwise he would n’t be able to suddenly handle an assault from a pickaxe - wield assailant . His inability to speak or remember decimal point to someone or something manipulating him , as well as the other people he encounter into this ceaseless battle royale . Piece by musical composition , as Bruce campaign his elbow room through absurdity , you see that even stripped down to his core , what Batman / Fortnite seems to ab initio suggest is the essence of Batman is his mind : his power to unrelentingly break a situation down and understand it , even if part of that site is to entirely displume the rug out from underneath himself .

Image: Reilly Brown, Nelson Faro DeCastro, John Kalisz, and Andworld Design/DC Comics

Image: Reilly Brown, Nelson Faro DeCastro, John Kalisz, and Andworld Design/DC Comics

But then the issue actually proffer a different answer to the question of what define Batman . What if were not his idea , that of the World ’s Greatest Detective , that makes the Batman ?

What if it were his heart ?

Across a sea of body locked in conflict , Batman finds himself scheme by one figure above all : a woman we know to be Selina Kyle , Catwoman , but to Bruce is just a unusual , yet alluring figure . They ’re drawn together , even without the knowledge of who they are in and of themselves and to each other , silently but explicitly ally themselves in this fight down to every last military personnel , cleaning lady , alien , fishperson , or sentient opus of yield . Bruce , analytical as ever , wonders who this woman is to him — a friend , an ally , perhaps even a paramour — as their cobalt - ordination by nature syncs . Even Bruce ’s internal dialogue change , lightens even .

Image: Reilly Brown, Nelson Faro DeCastro, John Kalisz, and Andworld Design/DC Comics

Image: Reilly Brown, Nelson Faro DeCastro, John Kalisz, and Andworld Design/DC Comics

He stops being , for a minute , that great tec . He reads as almost excited , hop that this cleaning lady is someone he love , someone he care about , hoping that finding her will bring in triumph , and with triumph , answer to all his question . However , this is Fortnite , and victory have in mind nothing but reset . A thing that Bruce and Selina , even unknowing of each other , recognise as they are the last two standing as Fortnite ’s round attract in . As they ’re both immolated for Fortnite to commence anew , their last moment is one that is affectingly intimate — a shared smile as Selina puts her hand on his berm .

Time will tell what Batman / Fortnite will do as it continues , as Bruce inevitably begin to tack together together his true identity operator bit by scrap , reset by reset in this strange , gamified reality . But in using that melodic theme to really question what defines Batman in his core , when stripped of his chronicle and his circumstance , already the series is pointing to be something much more intimate . And certainly more interesting than one might expect of an otherwise clichéd brand crossover — one iconic prop horseback riding on the coattail of another , two zeitgeists passing in the dark .

Many creatives have try in the past to condense theessence of Batman . Perhaps we should indeed allow Fortnite the opportunity as well .

Image: Reilly Brown, Nelson Faro DeCastro, John Kalisz, and Andworld Design/DC Comics