Warning! Spoilers for Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #3!
DC Comics' Batman and Catwoman might be a couple made in comic book nerd heaven, but without her by his side in their ever-looping game of Battle Royale, Batman has become entirely unhinged. This sadistic game of Fortnite is really starting to do a number on The Dark Knight and his outlook on things, and it’s beginning to show.
Heavily noted in the first few pages of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #3 by Christos Gage and Reilly Brown, Batman is still locked inside a nightmarish game of Fortnite that sees him repeat his time loop scenario every twenty-two minutes. Unable to find a way out since being thrust into this game of death, Batman has relied on the help of his own strategic mind and his partner in crime, Catwoman, to slowly but surely find ways to push the limits of the game and eventually find a way to victory.
Finally able to do just that, Batman watches as Catwoman “wins” the game and makes it out of their predicament in one piece, prompting yet another time loop to occur as Batman forgets everything he’s just witnessed. But not all is as it seems, and as the next match begins Batman has become something more brutal and deranged than ever before.
Touched on via the internal emails of the Fortnite overlords that are observing and commenting on Batman’s progress, it’s noted that, “Since asset: Catwoman escaped the Loop, asset: Batman has displayed a single-minded determination to follow her, bordering on mania,” immediately calling attention the reason for his uptick in brutal violence and a berserker rage usually reserved for someone like Marvel’s Wolverine. Also mentioning that, “…it’s impossible to wipe a subject’s emotional memory as decisively as their conscious memory,” the fact that Batman’s feelings for Catwoman have not only carried into this Fortnite prison but have also enhanced his drive and skills once she leaves it, says a lot about a man that usually doesn’t let his insurmountable rage get the best of him.
Having a deep and complicated relationship with Catwoman in regular DC continuity, these emotions and vague memories of their bond are ones that have driven Batman to accomplish feats in this Fortnite universe that not many others have been able to pull off. And now, as described by the higher ups in the Fortnite hierarchy, these old hang-ups have accelerated the pace at which Batman is figuring out what's going on around him, with his actions translating into a sort of unease and slight fear of a man they know they cannot control entirely – even less so now that Catwoman is no longer around to level him out.
So while the Fortnite bosses are doing their best to hinder Batman at every turn, the loss of Catwoman has seen Bats double down on an unhinged brutality and one-track mindedness that just might see him soon escape the time loop himself. Regardless of what Batman faces next, the end is in sight for the players of Fortnite, and if Batman has anything to say about it, that’ll be happening much sooner rather than later.