Everyone loves a movie collab these days, and with Marvel being big in not just its own video game shooter and pretty tight with one of the other biggest shooters on the planet, it’s not too surprising that we’re going to be seeing a battle of the collabs this Friday as both Marvel Rivals and Fortnite prepare to welcome the MCU Fantastic Four.
Rivals, of course, has had the First Family around for a little longer, having introduced Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben over the course of its first season earlier this year. But the Fantastic Four have been in high demand for Fortnite for quite some time as Epic has leaned more and more into Marvel collaborations.
The entire team was conspicuously absent from Fortnite‘s latest Marvel-themed season, “Absolute Doom,” last year, which revolved around their archnemesis Dr. Doom invading the game’s battle royale island setting. Well, for the most part: eagle-eyed gamers realized that they could find the defeated remnants of the Fantastic Four littered around the map on display, from Reed tied up into a compressed ball in a display cabinet to, uh, Johnny’s flaming heart. So it’s nice to see them finally arrive in MCU form.
The four Fortnite skins, alongside emotes and other accessories, will be available to purchase this Friday, July 25, but can be earned for free by participating in a special squad-based Battle Royale Cup starting on Wednesday, July 23, where the top-earning squads will get to unlock all four skins for free.
Meanwhile, over in NetEase’s team-based hero shooter Marvel Rivals, things will be a little simpler: all four MCU variant skins for Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing will hit the game’s store on July 25 as well, alongside a special in-game team-up inspired by the film between Human Torch and the Thing.
Unlike Fortnite‘s offerings, which replicate the likenesses of the MCU stars, the First Steps skins in Rivals (revealed with the launch of the game’s third season earlier this month) will give the MCU costumes to Rivals‘ interpretations of the Fantastic Four, rather than completely alter their looks.
There are some fun cosmetic tweaks, like Rivals Reed trimming his beard to look a little more like Pedro Pascal, and Sue and Jonny matching their hairstyles to Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn, respectively. But it’s more like the Rivals versions of these characters getting to do a bit of movie cosplay rather than the MCU heroes jumping into Rival‘s multiversal scraps.
Either way, if you need to shoot people in a cosmic-ray-induced manner this weekend? You’ve got options.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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