Fortnite has confirmed that The Basis, its heroic character voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, will return subsequent season – and begun an Avengers: Doomsday-style countdown for his reappearance.
A cinematic teaser trailer launched immediately exhibits The Basis at present frozen in ice, captured by The Ice King (one other necessary character in Fortnite lore). Nonetheless, gamers anticipate they’re going to have the ability to get away The Rock’s character within the battle royale mode’s subsequent season, which begins in shortly over every week’s time.
Certainly, immediately’s teaser reveals the official title for Epic Video games’ subsequent slice of Fortnite, and riffs on the wording seen in current Avengers: Doomsday teasers (not that they are really teasers, apparently) to affirm the return of a number of key characters.
“The Basis and The Ice King will return in Fortnite: Showdown,” the teaser states, earlier than the phrases shift right into a date (March 19, 2026) after which a countdown clock revealing the weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds left to go till the replace drops.
The teaser itself reveals a brand new in-game location, which seems to be to be a recent and extra detailed model of The Ice King’s traditional Polar Peak fortress. Earlier in-game imagery had teased this wintry palace, and prompt it was residence to one of many recreation’s present Zero Level shard macguffins.
The suggestion right here is that this new Ice King is working with Fortnite’s present baddie, The Darkish Voyager, to reunite the Zero Level’s damaged shards for nefarious means. However earlier Fortnite lore, doled out by way of graphic novels, painted the unique Ice King as one thing of a extra noble determine, who freezes beings he has deemed a menace to actuality. Followers have prompt the Darkish Voyager is able to corrupting earlier Fortnite characters (akin to Lynx) to do his bidding. Or possibly the Ice King actually has simply damaged unhealthy?
The unique Ice King was a mysterious character who saved a prisoner in his dungeon again in Fortnite’s first chapter (one thing lately glimpsed once more by way of the Fortnite OG mode, which retells the sport’s unique storyline). In immediately’s teaser, nonetheless, the brand new Ice King is proven to have a number of different captives, too, together with golden skeleton woman Orelia and Marvel’s personal Steve Rogers (although his could be one more nod to Doomsday).
The teaser concludes with The Ice King sidling up to The Basis, frozen mid-punch. How he’ll escape stays to be seen, although one issues for sure: with newly-tweaked designs for The Basis and The Ice King on present right here, followers could have a number of must-have new skins to receive subsequent season.
Current weeks have seen a number of surviving members of Fortnite’s heroic Seven faction return in recreation, together with a brand new model of The Customer voiced by a really familiar-sounding actor. Fortnite is but to formally affirm the return of Dwayne Johnson to his personal position, although followers seemingly will not have lengthy to wait till The Basis speaks as soon as extra.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You’ll be able to attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social