Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point has concluded its six-issue arc Tuesday, supplying plenty of juicy answers while also raising about a dozen new questions.
What Is 'Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point'?
The crossover comic revolves around Bruce Wayne's attempt to escape from the Fortnite island after he is swept up into an interdimensional portal. There, he is forced to compete in a looping gladiatorial tournament, in which he must fight to outlive everybody else and emerge as the last person standing.
In a nutshell, the premise is essentially that Batman is stuck playing match after match of Fortnite until he eventually wins one. Whenever he is defeated, his memory is completed wiped, the cycle is reset and he has to try all over again, à la Groundhog Day.
Newsweek has already published an explanation of the graphic novel's more ambiguous plot points (namely the confounding ending), but there is still a lot more to chew on here.
Is 'Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point' Canon?
According to DC, the events of the Zero Point comic are officially integrated into Fortnite's continuity, which means that the series has a lot to tell us about the battle royale's enigmatic backstory. Speaking to Newsweek at a round table event, author Christos Gage said: "I do know that what is happening in the comic is canon for the game's story."
Gage told us that he was basically given carte blanche to come up with his own explanations for how the island works and how its strange time loop affects the locals. These are mysteries that fans have been speculating over for years, ever since the game's release back in 2017, and now they have a comic book that finally provides some definitive answers.
In fact, Gage was surprised by just how much he was allowed to give away in a promotional tie-in. "That's part of the fun of all this. You know, when we were first approached [I] was like: 'This is amazing. We're actually going to reveal all of this in the comic? You're not saving it for the game?'"
Of course, as anybody who has ever attempted to untangle Fortnite's opaque narrative will tell you, the game rarely serves you answers on a silver platter. If you want to stand a chance of understanding the island's vague mysteries and the shadowy dealings of the Imagined Order (IO), then you will have to do a little digging on your own.
Clues about the wider story are hidden in blog posts, item store descriptions, and subtle environmental details. And unless you go out of your way to investigate these cryptic leads and explore the more obsessive Reddit threads, then Fortnite's storyline is mostly left to your imagination.
This is why there are so many successful YouTube channels (like PlayStation Grenade) out there dedicated to sifting through all the weird lore and seeing what tidbits they can extrapolate.
Epic Games actively encourages this kind of detective work by withholding clear-cut answers from players, so it makes sense that it would be willing to bury major plot points in a comic book that lots of fans will not even read.
Reflecting on this, Gage said: "[Epic Games told us] it's really important that the player has the agency in the game. If [they want] to get into the lore of Fortnite island and the Imagined Order they can, but if [they] just want to get in vehicles [and] crash them into each other then that's what you can do."
What Do We Learn in 'Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point'?
The overarching narrative for Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point was outlined by Epic Games' chief creative officer, Donald Mustard, but, according to Gage, the CCO was not overly protective when it came to the particulars. In the words of Gage himself: "Donald said just go nuts and do what feels right."
He continued: "Typically with a licenced property, and this is the nature of the best, you say that you want to do X, Y and Z and they say: 'You can do this. You can do this. You can't do that' [but here] it was more a question of us having conversations with Donald and coming up with cool stuff."
People Are Unable to Speak on the Island
One thing that we discover early in the comic is that people are unable to speak once they find themselves trapped in the battle royale loop.
Upon entering Fortnite island, Batman is suddenly rendered mute and must learn to communicate through non-verbal means, in a way that seems to offer an in-universe explanation for emotes.
Speaking about this creative decision, Gage said: "You know, it was a revelation to me that people can't talk [...] We had a nice conversation with Donald about why that would be. Is that a natural aspect of the island? Is it something that the Imagined Order has [engineered]? I'm not going to [reveal] that, because it's not answered in the series, but we know the answer and I don't know if there was a hard-and-fast one before."
How Memory Works on the Island
The revelation that people are unable to speak on the island is not the only snippet of information that is disclosed in the new comic.
Integral to the story of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point is the notion that everybody's memory is wiped at the start of each battle royale loop. On this subject, Gage said: "That's how it works. Every 22 minutes the storm closes in completely and the loop resets and all the characters return without any memory of what's happened before."
While this has been an enduring part of the Fortnite mythos for a while now, the comic builds on the idea by confirming that those with pre-existing relationships, like Batman and Harley Quinn, are still able to vaguely recognize each other on the island.
Over the course of the story, we even learn that some lingering emotions are able to persevere across memory wipes, given that Batman and Catwoman eventually begin an island romance.
What's Inside the Underground Bunker
Issue 5 of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point takes the dark knight into the heart of an underground bunker that turns out to be a secret base of operations for the Imagined Order. This shelter is actually an inaccessible location in the Fortnite video game itself, one that players have been trying to break into for years now. As such, it was an exciting moment when fans finally got to take a peek inside.
During the roundtable interview, the comic's artist Reilly Brown said: "There wasn't even any concept art or anything like that. If I remember correctly, it was just some scribbles.
"Donald let us know that a lot of it would be huge for players [...] It was interesting too to talk about what all this [means]. What was the chamber they entered into? What was its purpose? Perhaps it was a staging area, or somewhere for guards to gear up before heading out to the island."
From what we see in the comic, it appears that the bunker is some kind of hub that enables IO operatives to teleport in and out of the island. Speaking of which, Batman manages to neutralize one of these guards while he is exploring the subterranean network and takes the opportunity to unmask them.
He immediately recognizes the soldier as someone he has already fought against on the island and arrives at the conclusion that IO must be plucking "skilled combatants from the loop to use as security." This would seem to indicate that every guard in Fortnite is actually supposed to be a pre-existing character who has already won a battle royale and has subsequently been recruited by IO.
Speaking about the bombshell revelation, Gage said: "I don't even think that Batman's theory is necessarily correct, but [what] I was hinting at was this idea that the Imagined Order will use people who [distinguish themselves] in the loop. [It] was meant to be more mystery. It was meant to answer a question while spawning a bunch more."
How Future Crossovers Are Set Up
In addition to all of the above, the ending of Zero Point's sixth issue has some major implications for the future of both the DC continuity and the wider world of Fortnite.
The final panels reveal that Dr. Slone is scheming alongside Lex Luthor, Deathstroke and The Batman Who Laughs. Together, the villains seem to be hatching a plan that will somehow tether their separate universes using the zero point.
How this will come into play remains unclear for the time being, but as Gage himself pointed out: "Nothing good can possibly come of [it]."
While the Batman/Fortnite storyline has now wrapped up, the latest issue does end on a tantalizing cliffhanger. Plus, with Superman coming to the Fortnite battle pass in just over a month, it is safe to assume that more DC crossovers are on the way, potentially with the Man of Steel taking the lead role.
In related news, Epic Games has recently been updating Fortnite with plenty of alien-themed content, so that could feasibly lead in to a Kryptonian storyline.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
