After kicking off the beginning of Season 6 with its first ever single-player story experience, one would've thought Epic Games would've done something similar with Fortnite Season 7, especially since it had been heralding an alien invasion. This time around, there was no grandiose event of any kind like the Zero Crisis; Season 7 has simply started, although it did still get a short cinematic story trailer.
The trailer focuses entirely on the aforementioned invasion, which Epic had already been teasing in-game with players being abducted by UFOs and the appearance of crop circles. And, unsurprisingly, the cinematic takes some time to highlight a couple of the season's big crossover characters, both of whom had been teased as well: Superman and Rick Sanchez.
Superman's inclusion was widely suspected when one the teasers highlighted a pair of glasses, which many believed greatly resembled the glasses Superman wears when he's Clark Kent. It's also arguably been a long time coming considering DC and Epic's close working relationship. Multiple other DC skins have been included in the past and it's somewhat shocking that it's taken this long for Superman, one of DC's flagship characters, to make an appearance.
Interestingly, the trailer shows a news reporter commenting on the changes occurring on the island, with the broadcast being played on screens in the Daily Planet, the newspaper where Clark works at. His appearance is very brief, removing his glasses as he watches the report, no doubt preparing to take off for the island. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that, on his computer screen, is an image of Batman in Fortnite. The recent tie-in comic, Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point, saw the Dark Knight being warped to the island itself so perhaps Superman is investigating his friend's disappearance.
As for Rick from Rick and Morty, his inclusion was teased with the robot he made solely to pass butter. Said robot doesn't appear to feature in the trailer at all and, surprisingly, Rick is completely silent throughout his appearance, aside from one of his trademark belches. It looks as if he is cooperating to help fight back against the alien threat, something he's no stranger to doing in the show, though anyone familiar with his character knows he's anything but a team player. He's also animated differently, boasting cel-shaded visuals to better represent his appearance in the cartoon.
It's unlikely that these two will be the only crossover characters for Fortnite Season 7. Given the alien theme, any additional characters will likely come from other sci-fi related series or have some connection with aliens (Superman, for example, is himself an alien).
Fortnite is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.