We're a little more than a month away from Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 and, uh, well, a lot has happened since Season 3 kicked off at the end of May. The new season has been so divisive that Epic created an entirely new battle royale mode to compensate for it. That puts a lot of pressure on Season 4 to be a hit with as many people as possible. And considering the biggest rumor (that next season will be all about Marvel, with Doctor Doom as a particular focus) plus recent news (that Robert Downey Jr is returning to the MCU to play Doctor Doom), it could be in store for some very good stuff.
It's still a bit early for the hype cycle to start officially, though--that won't happen until we're closer to the launch date--so there isn't much official info about next season yet aside from the start date. Speaking of which...
When does Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 start?
Per the in-game signage, Season 4 should start on Friday, August 16, at some point during the morning US time.
Fortnite Festival Season 5 is also currently slated for the same day. It will be the first time a new BR season and a new Festival season started on the same day since Festival Season 1 in December 2023.
What's new in Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4?
Nothing has been officially announced, but we've got some pretty important details about what to expect from Epic's leaked 2024 roadmap a few months ago, which has thus far proven authentic since it had both Billie Eilish and Metallica as Festival headliners, and teased the current car-themed season.
Keeping in mind that some of their plans have certainly changed given the response to Season 3 and the subsequent launch of Reload, the roadmap told us that Colombian superstar Karol G will be headlining Festival Season 5, and that battle royale Chapter 5 Season 4 may be the second Marvel-themed season overall, and the first since 2020.
The art for the Marvel season in the key art showed Doctor Doom, which could mean it's focused on the Fantastic Four--which has a movie on the way in the MCU. Plus, uh, there's that big news out of Comic-Con which could be related.
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 is a new Marvel season--with Doctor Doom?
Let's address the elephant in the room: Robert Downey Jr, who spent a decade playing Iron Man and being the face of the MCU, is returning to play Doctor Doom. With the combination of that news, plus Doom being on the leaked roadmap, it only makes sense that he'd be a key antagonist in this upcoming season.
But I'm curious if we might actually get a Doctor Doom skin that carries Downey Jr's likeness. Marvel has never done that before with its skins--the Tom Hardy/Venom, Tom Holland/Spider-Man and Zendaya/MJ skins are all, legally, from Sony movies, but none of the characters from Disney's MCU movies have actor likenesses. But there are some factors to consider.
First: Fortnite already has a Doctor Doom skin, from the previous Marvel-focused battle pass in Chapter 2 Season 4. Because each battle pass is exclusive to its season, a new Doctor Doom would have to be distinctively different from the old ones--see, for example, the new Deadpool and Wolverine skins. Having a new version of Doom that carries a celebrity's likeness would do the trick, as it did with the previously mentioned Tom Holland Spider-Man skin.
Second: skins with an actor's license seem to often have a limited shelf life--all of those Sony Marvel skins have been out of the shop rotation for some time, and the Eddie Brock skin hasn't been available since the end of 2021. Considering skins like that require multiple licenses, it may be cost-prohibitive to repeatedly renew those licenses. Putting them on a battle pass, with its inherent exclusivity that can't be renewed anyway, would be a potential solution.
Third: There have been several battle pass skins based on a real person's likeness, but there hasn't been one since Khaby Lame in Chapter 4 Season 4. So it could be that we're due--especially since Epic needs a big spike in players after a rough summer season.
But all that is just speculation, and maybe a little bit of my hopes and dreams seeping in.
Given how intensely divisive Season 3 has been, I would have thought that we'll be seeing a more straightforward season next time out. But I may be completely wrong, since the previous Marvel season gave us all sorts of wild mythic items based on Marvel superpowers. According to Hypex, one such mythic will be a new version of Wolverine's claws. During the previous Marvel season, every battle pass skin had an accompanying mythic in battle royale. Under normal circumstances I'd assume that will happen again, but with the situation being what it is, Epic might rein it in a little.
Fortnite Festival Season 5
It's very interesting that Epic would choose to launch new seasons of Festival and BR on the same day, but it's impossible to guess why since Karol G isn't slated to appear in any Marvel movies. But since they usually stagger the season launches, it's possible there's a specific reason for doing this. We'll have to wait to learn more as we continue inching closer to the launch of the new season.
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 collab leaks and rumors
Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part VI
If we're getting a Marvel season, clearly there will be tons of Marvel cosmetics on the battle pass, plus a pile of item shop stuff to go with. But that's not all that could be coming during Season 4, which is when this year's edition of Fortnitemares will take place. Word is, from multiple different sources, that Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise will make his Fortnite debut during this year's Fortnitemares, likely as this year's new spooky item shop collab skin, following Michael Myers a year ago and Ash Williams the year before--this is a great annual tradition.
We're also expecting a big NASCAR collab with Rocket League and Rocket Racing, according to new leaks, though that may not begin during Season 4. But it's on the horizon, allegedly.
Is it almost time for Fortnite OG 2?
After the massive success of last year's 30-day Fortnite OG season, Epic promised it would be back with more of that kind of thing in the future. You may be tempted to think that Reload is what they were talking about, but it's not--a second OG season, based on the Chapter 2 map, is reportedly still going to happen later this year. The leaked roadmap puts it after Season 4, just like last year, so that's the safe bet. Look for it to probably kick off in early November and run until the presumed end of the Chapter about a month later.
