Fortnite and Marvel confirm new crossover season starring Doctor Doom, as Disney integration deepens

Fortnite will host another Marvel-focused season, this time focusing on Doctor Doom, accompanied by even more superhero faces for Epic Games’ evergreen battle royale.

Details of Fortnite’s next season, named Fortnite x Marvel: Absolute Doom, were announced this morning during Disney’s D23 fan event, and livestreamed in Fortnite itself.

Marvel boss Kevin Feige was joined on stage by Star Wars legend Dave Filoni and Pixar head honcho Pete Doctor, who additionally detailed a treasure trove of Disney franchises also set to get crossovers in Fortnite over the coming months, as Epic Games’ integration with the Mouse House deepends.

Fortnite x Marvel: Absolute Doom will kick off this Friday, 16th August, and include Marvel heroes Gwenpool, War Machine, Emma Frost, Mysterio, Shuri and Doctor Doom in its battle pass. Two Fortnite favorites with new Marvel looks are also included: Captain Jonesy, who wears a version of Cap’s suit and wields his shield, plus Peelverine, the latest version of Fortnite’s favorite banana, now dressed as Logan.

A trailer for the new season also featured a furrier look for Fortnite’s much-loved muscley cat Meowscles, apparently inspired by Marvel’s Sabretooth, while fans at the event reported being told that a Fishstick variant of Deadpool, named Fishpool, is also being worked on. Meanwhile, an Epic blog post states the Fantastic Four are also set to be added. All of these skins will likely be sold separately to the battle pass – either via the game’s Item Shop or Crew subscription.

The past 24 hours have been busy for Fortnite, which is currently wrapping up its Mad Max-inspired wasteland season. In a mini live-event held in-game last night, around a million players were in-game as this season’s villain Megalo Don got his comeuppance, when his pipeline of powerful Nitro fuel detonated in spectacular style. The suggestion was that Doctor Doom interfered with causing the explosion, while the aftermath also saw the return of Pandora’s Box, a menacing threat that has plagued Fortnite’s battle royale Island through the course of its current Chapter 5 storyline.

More pertinent to all of the announcements last night, perhaps, is Epic Games’ real-life $1.5bn deal with Disney to integrate its Fortnite metaverse with the entertainment powerhouse. I can’t remember the last time Disney wheeled out such a senior trio of execs to announce more skins for a video game, but such is the importance – and opportunity – of Fortnite as a part of popular culture.

Leaks suggest next season will add a permanent and separate Disney store to Fortnite, alongside its Item Shop, as a way to sell and track your purchased vault of Disney content. This, perhaps, may also be used to mark compatibility with a future Fortnite Disney mode.

As well as adding the many Marvel heroes above, Fortnite will swell its character roster to include IG-88 and Moff Gideon from Star Wars hit show The Mandalorian, as well as a new Grogu back bling, as soon as next week.

Fortnite’s first Pixar crossover is also on the way, appropriately with the animation studio’s own superheroes, as Frozone, Mr Incredible and Elasticgirl from The Incredibles become available this autumn. Finally, classic Disney villains such as Cruella de Vil, Hook and Maleficient will also be available in the autumn.

The announcement of a Fortnite season focusing on Doctor Doom is well-timed with Marvel Studios’ own announcement it will pivot to focusing on the character, played by Robert Downey Jr., in the next Avengers film. It’s unclear how – if at all – this season will tie into that, or acknowledge Doctor Doom was already part of Fortnite’s storyline several years back, when its first dedicated Marvel season ran. That season featured Thor, She-Hulk, Groot, Storm, Dr. Doom, Mystique, Iron Man and Wolverine, characters Epic Games has clearly steered away from repeating with new skins here, and memorably ended in a spectacular major live event where the Marvel heroes teamed up to take down Galactus – something that will take some beating.