After the original crossover of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point sent players of one of the world's biggest video games rushing to their local comic shops in record numbers, it was only a question of when the crossover would return for a new chapter. But Batman/Fortnite: Foundation #1 isn't just bringing one of the game's most mysterious figures into the DC Universe, it will also be dropping new hints about his backstory... provided he survives his encounter with Batman.
A sequel was a foregone conclusion based on sales alone, but the actual twist ending of Batman/Fortnite showed exactly what evil scheming was taking place behind the scenes. That's where the story picks up when the Batman/Fortnite: Foundation one-shot arrives October 26, as Lex Luthor and the Batman Who Laughs lead DC's villains into their next phase of the mission. But as some fight to cross into the world of Fortnite, the armored protector known as The Foundation is thrown into the DC Universe from his own. Coming face to face with Batman means The Foundation has a new mission on his hands--and thankfully, Batman/Fortnite writer Christos Gage is giving Screen Rant an exclusive breakdown of the next chapter in this cross-media mystery.
Gage is once again co-writing with Epic Games Chief Creative Officer Donald Mustard, but is also bringing Scott Snyder (creator of the included Batman Who Laughs) along for the ride, with art from Joshua Hixson, Roman Stevens, and AndWorld Design. As was the case with the original mini-series, the Foundation one-shot includes a redeemable code granting owners a Batman Who Laughs Outfit, the Robin’s Perch Back Bling, and Dark Days Loading Screen. But for the lore at work in this new story, and the tale of how the Foundation became Batman's new target, read our full interview with Christos Gage (preview pages included) embedded below.
Screen Rant: Just how quickly did you know that you were going to be making a follow-up to Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point? That this was not going to be a one-and-done; this was going to be something you're working on for the near future?
Christos Gage: I think we were already talking about it when we did the outline for the miniseries. The ending with showing Luthor and Batman Who Laughs talking to Dr. Slone was already planned, so I think the idea was always the hope that this would lead to further things. The only way we weren't going to is if it didn't sell well, and people didn't like it. But luckily, it was quite the opposite.
I think that we went into it hoping and expecting that that would be the case. But if you're asking how soon did I know that it was going to be specifically this one-shot? Probably soon after we wrapped the miniseries, because I think that we pretty quickly started talking. It was around the time the Foundation was introduced in the game and people were really excited about him, and Donald [Mustard] said, "I'd love to bring the Foundation into something," and we thought that was really cool.
Because obviously in the first one we had Batman go to Fortnite Island, and in this one we have Foundation coming from the Fortnite universe into the DC universe. That was a perfect fit.
SR: Can you speak a bit more about that conversation; about the Foundation, specifically? The first mini-series idea sold itself and made sense immediately, you're shifting to a character like the Foundation who is inherently mysterious. I feel like players would want to know absolutely everything that was said to you about them.
CG: So just to recap, Donald has said many times that it's important to him and to the folks at Epic that the game be player-driven. So that if players want to participate in the events that go on, and if they want to just go in there and fight Battle Royales, they can do that too.
When it comes to things like fleshing out a character like the Foundation, or even just giving people more of him, Donald feels the best place to do it is in something like a comic book. He was like, "Let's do this," and it was also a great way to do the fish out of water thing in reverse. This time it's not Batman who's in a strange universe, it's the Foundation. Plus, there was considerable fan excitement about the character.
I don't want to make it sound like we're going to be revealing absolutely everything about the Foundation; it's really more that there will be some tantalizing hints, and we'll get to see what the Foundation is like, his approach to things in general, and some backstory. But it's not going to be throwing open the doors and revealing everything, because there's more of that to come in other areas.
But this is his big debut in other media, and a chance for people to read a story that's sort of like, "What is he all about?" We got a taste in seeing him interact with Agent Jones, but now this is going to be a little bit more involved.
SR: From the marketing for the book, people know there's more of the Justice League involved this time around. But it's still Batman's name on the book, so is this still a Batman story.
CG: Because he's the one who's been to the Fortnite Island. I'm going to get into slight spoiler territory for the one-shot, so the people that don't want to know should skip this part, but I think it's clear from the preview images that you've got two fronts going on when we open our story.
The Justice League is trying to keep an army of villains from getting into the rift that we saw open in the sky above Metropolis at the end of the Zero Point miniseries. And Batman is in Gotham, but he's rushing to join them when he detects some energy signature that he recognizes as being unique to Fortnite Island. He's like, "Hang on, I've got to check this out." And it's the Foundation, who is at the bottom of Gotham Harbor.
In the game, there was an animation where we saw he was inside Zero Point. He had built this structure, the Spire, to protect it. And then there was an attack by these spaceships, and in the attack the Spire was blasted, and the Foundation was blown into this unknown place where he sank into some water. It turns out that was Gotham Harbor.
He and Batman face off, and--I think this is also not really spoiler territory--they're gonna fight, and we will go from there. But it was a lot of fun to to put that together. In some ways, it's the classic hero team-up structure of meet, fight, team up. But there's a reason that's classic, you know what I'm saying?
SR: What was it about the Foundation that struck a chord with you, or that you wanted to get across (aside from his killer design)?
CG: Well, I kind of wanted to get across his personality, and hint at his backstory without revealing too much. It reminded me a little bit of the early days of the new X-Men when Wolverine was this mysterious character. When I first started reading X-Men comics, he was just a mystery. He was this dude who would just leave the X Mansion and go do his thing, and you didn't really know anything about him. You sort of clung to every little reveal, like when he and Nightcrawler went to Canada and met Alpha Flight and so forth.
That's the sort of thing that was fun about this. Literally everything the Foundation says, like what he uses as an expression. Wonder Woman says, "Great Hera." Well, what would the Foundation say? There was some thought given to that. And what are his priorities? When he comes out of the harbor, and there's this guy in a bat suit standing there saying, "This is my city. What are you doing here?" How would he react? It's kind of fun, because you're building the... sorry about this, the foundation of who the character is.
Donald and I have talked extensively about this. Donald knows exactly who he is, but there's the question of, "How much do you want to reveal now? How much do you want to reveal later? And what do you want to hint at?" It was a lot of fun. It's an interesting balancing act between creating a new character--which obviously I didn't, this is Donald and the folks at Epic--and writing a pre-existing character that's well established.
SR: You spoke about Donald giving you more freedom with the first series than an outsider might assume with a property like Fortnite. Was that the case here as well, or was it different when you're dealing with a character like the Foundation?
CG: Donald and I, at this point, are sort of old tag team partners. Working together, along with Katie [Kubert] just feels very natural. I don't want to say things like Lennon and McCartney, which makes it sound like we think very highly of ourselves. We don't think we're the Beatles, but...
I also have to mention Scott Snyder, who worked with us on this, because Scott, with Greg Capullo, created the Batman Who Laughs, who we saw at the end of the Zero Point miniseries. But when we knew we wanted to have Batman Who Laughs be a part of this, it made sense to have Scott involved. He had also said to us that he would really love to be involved because he and his kids are big Fortnite fans and play it a lot. He essentially was like, "Working on Fortnite would make me the coolest dad of all time." It's funny, because people who are widely admired often say, "Yeah, I can't impress my kids," but this actually impresses his kids. He wanted to be involved, and we were thrilled to have him, so he was part of the mix as well.
But at this point, it's really a creative team effort, where we just go back and forth, kick around ideas - and whatever works best, that's what we go with. And it's really great, because there's none of this, "Okay, we've come up with something we like, and now we have to run it through eight layers of approvals." If Donald likes it, it's in. The end.
SR: Could you speak a bit more on that collaboration? Scott Snyder doesn't seem like someone who only dips a toe into something that he's interested in working on.
CG: I talked to him about Batman Who Laughs in general, and I obviously read the Death Metal stuff, which was great. It was just so nuts in the best possible way. It kind of reminded me of when you would read 70s Jack Kirby comics, and there would just be one crazy idea after another - like the Fourth World, "Here's Darkseid, and here's the New Gods. And here's the Forever People and here's this," and you're like, "Holy cow!" That's what Death Metal is like.
So, we talked a lot about Batman Who Laughs and what he's all about; how he would react in this situation or that situation. I can't say too much because it would spoil things that go on in the book, but it made a huge difference to have Scott there; to literally hear it from the co-creator of Batman Who Laughs and for him to put words in Batman Who Laughs' mouth. That was just a great help and great fun.
SR: You had a line in the first miniseries with Batman saying, "There's only so many people that could be pulling the strings here, and they are all bad." Did that alliance of string-pulling villains come together quickly?
CG: Luthor was suggested by Donald, and that was always a great fit. Then I believe Batman Who Laughs was suggested by Katie, and what was interesting about that is in the past, the two of them have been enemies. I thought that was really cool, because if you see them together, your immediate question is, "What is so important and valuable that they would put aside past conflicts and want to work with the Imagined Order and Dr. Slone?" And that's something we'll be getting into.
At that point, we knew that the one-shot was going to involve Batman Who Laughs, and that's why we had that in there. In fact, I think there may be--I can't remember if it stayed in or not--a line at the end of Zero Point where Batman Who Laughs makes a snide reference to his and Luthor's past conflicts. A "water under the bridge" type of thing. That was fun.
SR: You were somewhat of a Fortnite newbie when this started. Now that you are a Fortnite lore creator, have you felt that shift from outside to inside?
CG: To a degree. I love the lore, and I'm very much immersed in it. I think it's great. What hasn't changed is that I'm still terrible at the game, and when I play it, I immediately get my butt kicked by someone who is much younger than me. I just feel like an amateur.
But once I won a Victory Royale simply by not engaging in the fight at all and just staying close to the center of the storm. I think the last combatants were fighting close to the edge of the storm and just got killed by the storm. I was the last one because I had hidden for the entire fight, and that is pretty much my approach to Fortnite the game in a nutshell. If I can just hide and explore the cool areas by myself, that's the only way I last more than 10 seconds.
SR: So the Lex Luthor approach.
CG: If Lex Luthor was incompetent and sad. But I have hair; I have a full head of hair. Ha-ha, Lex Luthor.
SR: Donald is obviously a comic book fan, and this story continues to grow from a great idea to incentivize people to buy comics, to something that feels like it could last. Is this a partnership that will continue as long as both parties are having as much fun?
CG: Well, I'm not calling the shots. But yeah, as long as they want to do this? I'm on board, because it's just so much fun to do. Really, the sky's the limit. I mean, you can do almost everything. I love the wild concepts.
One of my favorite comic books ever is Kamandi, where you had all these bizarre talking animal hybrids. In this one, you've got guys with giant tomatoes for heads; you've got walking humanoid bananas. This is what comics is all about. To me, if it can be done as an episode of Masterpiece Theater, why are you doing it as a comic book? I was just talking to somebody about how the best thing comic books do are things you can't really do anywhere else, or it would cost an absolute fortune. And I think this is something like that.
You can also do it in video games, of course. But the types of stories we're telling, you can only really do in comics. Yes, as long as they'll have me, I will be here. They're gonna have to pull me out with one of those big hooks that they used to have on vaudeville shows.
SR: The last time we spoke only two issues were out, and we discussed the early response you'd been seeing. How has the response evolved as more of the story was told?
CG: If anything, more of the same and better. It was just so gratifying. I would get a lot of comments from people on social media, and they would say things like, "I've been collecting comics my whole life, and my kids weren't interested. This came out, and now we read the comic together, and we play Fortnite together, and my kids are interested in other comics." I'm like, "That's awesome." One guy was like, "I'd never read a comic before, then I picked this up. I wanted to read more, and now I've bought 500 comics," and I'm like, "Yeah, I feel you, buddy." Because when I first discovered comics, that's how I was. I was like, "Okay, I want all of this." And that's exciting to me.
Because what comic books have meant to my life is pretty much incalculable. I remember how I felt when I first discovered comics and I was like, "I'm reading this comic book and getting this thrill out of it - and wait, there's a whole world of them out there." To be part of bringing that feeling to anyone else is really special. And just to bring families together and make people happy means a lot to me. It's really powerful and positive and moving. I would say things are the same but more of it; more of it and better.
SR: No spoilers, obviously, but Foundation is definitely following up the plot threads of Zero Point. Are there any overarching questions or mysterious figures in the Fortnite lore that you would be personally interested in digging into a bit more?
CG: This is a little weird, but every time I see individual characters in Fortnite, I want to know more about their world. It was actually Reilly Brown who articulated this and got me thinking about it. He's our artist on Zero Point, though he's not doing the one-shot. Josh Hickson is, who is fantastic... It's a beautiful-looking book.
But I remember Reilly said, "Does Peely come from a world of all humanoid vegetables and fruits? Is it all types of food?" That's kind of awesome and interesting to think about. And then he was like, "Does everyone on Cuddle Team Leader's world dress and act like that? Or is Cuddle Team Leader that world's Batman; someone who has a unique set of skills and uses them this way?" I'm always really fascinated by what world these people come from, and I'm always wanting to fill out stuff like that.
In my head, I come up with stuff. And every now and then, like when we were returning the Fortnite characters to their home worlds with Zero Point, I got to be like, "I think Magnus would be on this world that was kind of like the Vikings, or a Led Zeppelin song come to life." And Bonehead was from a world where basically, they eat and drink energy, and stuff like that. It was just a lot of fun to be able to think about and brainstorm all these different worlds, but there's also a lot on the Island itself and things that happen.
One of the things that we've revealed is that, if you remember at the end of Zero Point, Batman and Catwoman run across these snapshots of themselves that have stayed on the island. What happens is if you're on Fortnite Island long enough in the loop, a snapshot of you appears which is like a duplicate. As Batman and Catwoman were off escaping, trying to figure out how to escape the island, these snapshots were continuing on and creating these armors and continuing to fight. And that is really interesting to me too.
Are these like just like illusions? Are they clones? Are they separate beings with their own existence and thoughts and dreams and hopes? Because the way we did it in Zero Point, it was just a bit of a jarring thing for the real Batman and Catwoman to be like, "Wait, there's duplicates of us here. They're still together and fighting, but they seem happy. Are we doing something wrong by going back to where we came from?" Anything that creates new story and character possibilities really excites me.
SR: I'll now be crossing my fingers for a Batman Fortnite compendium to break down all the different worlds.
Christos Gage: Yeah, remember the DC Who's Who? Who's Who in the Fortnite Universe, I would love that so much.
Batman/Fortnite: Foundation #1 will be available wherever comic books are physically or digitally sold October 26, 2021.