Warning! Spoilers ahead for Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #4 and #5!
Batman and Catwoman have officially escaped Fortnite’s loop together, but things are only getting more complex for the pair as they break in their newfound freedom. As the couple explores the island with the help of a group of survivors who have also escaped Fortnite’s hellish loop, they quickly find out that the mystery of what brought them together goes far deeper than any of them thought.
In Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #4 and #5 by Christos Gage and Reilly Brown, Batman has escaped from Fortnite’s loop and run into Catwoman and Deathstroke. After a brief fight, Batman and Catwoman team up with Deathstroke and his crew of survivors. Batman quickly takes charge and takes the rag-tag team to task to find out as much about the island as possible. During their investigation, the team finds a hatch, which after opening takes them to a hidden compound beneath the island. Inside the compound Batman and Catwoman find several alien technologies, evidence of previous player presences, and strange defense golems. As the team digs deeper in issue 5, they find sci-fi style security guards, incomprehensible technologies, and a massive tear in the fabric of reality, further stupefying the Caped Crusader and his ragtag band of allies.
While Fortnite’s environments, art direction, and choice of player avatars point toward the direction of a science fiction or science fantasy setting, the bits of the universe’s lore that readers learn through Batman and his crew’s investigation indicate that it may not be so clear cut. There are advanced technologies and machines on display at several points, including a strange beacon found by Fishstick in the water, but there are also indications of what may be magical elements in the world of Fortnite. Batman and his team find runes and glyphs on different surfaces and objects prior to finding the underground compound, which could suggest the existence of runic magic or other fantastical ways to bend the laws of reality. Certainly the existence of characters such as Baba Yaga and Delirium imply that at the very least, the people who run Fortnite are bringing in masters of the mystic arts.
A key piece of evidence that magic could exist in the world of Fortnite, and its significance in the lore, is the fact that Batman and company are attacked by stone golems covered in runes upon venturing deeper into the underground complex. Stone golems are usually found in settings with magic, as these living statues are powered by magic and oftentimes decorated with runes that power the construct. While this could be some sort of advanced robot, the theming of pretending to be a living statue covered in runes seems a bit wasteful for a defense system placed in a secret bunker that no Fortnite player is meant to enter. The final clue that indicates that magic, or some approximation of it, could exist in Fortnite’s world comes when Batman and the crew find the “Zero Point” itself. The Zero Point, as Batman understands it, appears to be a rift of cosmic energy that allows Fortnite’s controllers to pluck characters from other universes and multiverses. The chamber that houses the Zero Point is undeniably sci-fi, with reflector panels and power cables, but the rift itself remains a mystery, and clues throughout the comic (ancient drawings and artifacts) imply that the Zero Point itself is magical in origin.
While the moment to moment gameplay of Fortnite doesn’t concern itself too much with story, the lore clearly goes deeper than most people would give the game credit for. As Batman and Catwoman investigate the circumstances that brought them to the brutal loop of Fortnite, the audience gets an inkling as to how deep this rabbit hole really goes.