It’s been nearly a week since the first issue of Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point debuted, bringing an action-packed crossover between the DC Comics universe and the popular Epic Games battle royale. As the name would suggest, the six-issue comic miniseries sees Batman thrown smack-dab in the middle of Fortnite Island, having to fight against his lack of memories and the schematics of the game in order to find a way to safety. Given the very conceit of Fortnite โ in which the battle royale resets roughly every 22 minutes โ it was safe to assume that Batman’s time in the game would involve him dying and respawning a number of times. During a recent press event attended by ComicBook.com, the Zero Point team of writer Christos Gage and artist Reilly Brown addressed exactly how many times Batman “dies” within Fortnite โ and while there isn’t a clear answer, it’s definitely a lot.
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“I have not actually counted it up,” Gage revealed. “But doesn’t everyone die when the storm covers the entire island?”
“He dies every 22 minutes,” Brown answered. “So it depends on how long he’s in there. While I was drawing it, if you pay attention to his facial hair, you could see how long he’s in there. So he’s definitely in there for at least a week. So I don’t know how many times 22 minutes happens in a week, but that’s how many times and I guess it won’t be more frequently than that. If we figured out exactly how long he’s in the loop, we could figure out exactly how many times he died.”
“The real question is, is it guys like Ruckus and Big Mouth that are killing him? Or is it the storm?” Brown added. “Who has the most kill points racked up on Batman? That’s the real question.”
The time limit that naturally comes with Fortnite‘s respawn definitely lends itself to some interesting storytelling possibilities โ something that Gage said posed a compelling creative challenge.
“For me, the challenge was the same challenge that Batman faces, which is given these obstacles โ once he finds himself in the loop and time resets, or his memory resets every 22 minutes โ how do you get out of that?” Gage explained elsewhere in the press conference. “It took some creative thinking. But he is Batman and he figures that he’s probably gonna figure out a way out.”
Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1 is now available for purchase at comic shops and virtual platforms, as well as for free for subscribers of DC Universe Infinite.