Fortnite steals notes from Marvel Rivals for new summer update as battle-royale enters 'gooner' era

Fortnite recently announced its latest update, and the battle-royale is once again teaming up with DC.

Dubbed the ‘Hot Bat Summer’, the new update adds a set of skins that have had thousands of players doing a double-take as they’re some of the most lewd cosmetics Fortnite has ever dropped.

The four characters getting new skins are Batman, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Poison Ivy, with all four sporting swimming costumes or beach attire.

As expected, the collaboration has garnered a lot of attention online, with many now convinced that a new era of Fortnite is starting: the era of gooning.

Marvel Rivals opened the Pandora’s Box of gooner skins

Fortnite’s bold, new additions to the Item Shop have seen a lot of comparisons to Marvel Rivals, another free-to-play that’s been dominating the online space for quite some time now. It’s not reached the peaks of Fortnite just yet, but over time it might.

Since its launch, Marvel Rivals has gained notoriety for a never-ending wave of unsavoury cosmetics for its characters. We’ve had Captain America packing more than just his shield, and a collection of ‘summer’ inspired fits that feel scientifically engineered to capture the male-gaze.

It’s been rather controversial at times. After all, while superheroes have appeal to all age groups, they’re mostly aimed at a younger audience.

Marvel Rivals at least has the excuse of being a highly-competitive multiplayer hero-shooter. Its gameplay and balancing is centred around late-teen to adult gamers, and it's rife with microtransactions which most kids wouldn’t be able to afford without parental assistance.

Fortnite, on the other hand, is definitely aimed at children, which makes this latest batch of skins a bizarre addition to the game.

Poison Ivy’s outfit is the worst offender by far, and it really wouldn’t look out of place in a Marvel Rivals lobby.

It’s especially wild considering the lengths Epic Games has gone to in the past to censor its in-game content.

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Take Sabrina Carpenter, for example, a singer who gained a lot of fame and attention for risque performances. When she joined the game’s expanding roster of icons, one of her skins sported a classic bodysuit worn throughout her shows, but with added white tights so as to not make the cosmetic too provocative.

The dam walls started to crumble a bit when a Kim Kardashian skin landed in the Item Shop, with a lot of gamers taking issue with several of its design choices. Upon reflection, that must have been the straw that broke the camel’s back and convinced Epic Games that there’s a lot of money to be made in more adult-themed wardrobe options.

It’ll be interesting to see how these new DC skins actually perform once players can start buying them this week.

Should they be a success, it’ll probably open a can of worms that could come back to bite Epic in the future, should gamers start complaining.