.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=1140&h=&dpr=1.5)
Fortnite has become well established as the king of crossover skins when compared to just about every video game ever. The free-to-play title boasts dozens of characters from outside pop culture franchises, ranging from book series to comic books, TV, movies, and more. Fortnite is continuing its reign, this time revealing another Marvel skin: X-Men's Dark Phoenix.
For those who may not be too familiar, Dark Phoenix is essentially a corrupted form of Phoenix, the powerful alternate form of X-Men mainstay Jean Grey. Transformed by a powerful solar storm containing the God-like Phoenix Force, Phoenix was manipulated by villains into becoming Dark Phoenix, which was the focus of the most recent and sadly lowest-rated X-Men film.
Detailed on the official Fortnite website, Marvel's Dark Phoenix is already available within the game's item shop. Rather than any of the film interpretations, the intimidatingly powerful X-Men character comes in her classic comic book appearance, sporting a red suit, yellow gold boots and gauntlets, and fiery red hair. The Dark Phoenix Outfit comes with the Phoenix Force Back Bling as well as the Wrath of the Phoenix Loading Screen. Also available, albeit seperately, is the Rising Phoenix Emote, which has Dark Phoenix doing her signature pose.
Dark Phoenix marks the latest addition to a growing roster of not just Marvel characters, but of X-Men characters specifically. Last year, a variety of mutants made their way onto the battle royale island. Wolverine was one of the season's featured skins, which also had his iconic claws temporarily become an in-game weapon. Other X-Men mutants like X-Force's Cable, Psylocke, and Domino have also joined the ranks, with Dark Phoenix's addition setting the stage for players to create their own Fortnite-themed Marvel story.
While the most prevalent gaming presence X-Men has is clearly currently in Fortnite, the situation is slated to change sometime in the next couple of years. A couple of months ago, Marvel's Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games revealed it was working on Marvel's Wolverine, an RPG featuring the fan-favorite character. While some fans have been worried that it may be too similar to the recent Spider-Man games, Insomniac Director Brian Horton not only confirmed it would be bigger in scope, Marvel's Wolverine also features a more mature tone.
The addition of Dark Phoenix is indicative of Fortnite's continued diligence to bring in nearly any character that has a certain level of relevance from anywhere in pop culture. With the game finally revealing its rumored Naruto crossover, Fortnite could be setting the stage for some truly zany events.
Fortnite is free-to-play on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Epic Games