The Rock’s New Fortnite Skin Was Kinda 15 Years In The Making

DC’s latest comic book blockbuster, Black Adam starring Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson, is coming out next week. So it’s not surprising that the character is also headed to Fortnite soon as part of the game’s next pop culture crossover. But it took a long time to get here, as The Rock has been attached to the Black Adam film and character for at least 15 years.

In the last few years, the online battle royale shooter Fortnite has seen numerous characters, actors, athletes, and musicians appear in-game, often via large-scale events and updates. Everyone from Goku to Spider-Man to Darth Vader to Ariana Grande to Rick from Rick and Morty has shown up in Fortnite, leading to one of the weirdest video game rosters in history. How many games allow Obi-Wan Kenobi to kill Street Fighter’s Ryu with a sniper rifle after picking it up off the corpse of Superman? And soon, The Rock’s Black Adam will be flying into Fortnite to dance and kill alongside all these other popular characters.

Announced earlier today, Epic and DC are teaming up to bring the famous and powerful DC antihero, Black Adam, into Fortnite on October 20. The new skin is directly inspired by The Rock’s take on the character as seen in the upcoming film. Interestingly, you can already play as The Rock in Fortnite as the actor previously appeared in the game as the original character, The Foundation. (This makes him one of the few actors to appear multiple times in the game. Others include Tom Holland and Zendaya.)

Players will also be able to grab some new, Black Adam-themed accessories when the character arrives next week, just in time for the film’s theatrical release. After a long, long time in development, Black Adam is hitting theaters on October 20, the same day the skin drops.

And to be clear: It was a very long time in development. All the way back in 2007, The Rock was already attached to play Black Adam in a then-untitled DC movie featuring Shazam aka Captain Marvel. (No, not that one. Yes, comic books are weird.)

Over the next 15 years, a lot happened, with the project stalling out in 2009 before restarting in 2014, with Johnson still attached. Eventually, DC would split up Shazam and his villain Black Adam into separate projects, though Johnson confirmed they will meet on screen in a future film. Maybe that film will even be released this decade?! Until then, you’ll be able to play as Black Adam in Fortnite, making up your own sequels starring characters like Indiana Jones and Bulma. And maybe, with the upcoming release of the next Shazam film, that famous DC hero will finally make his way into Fortnite so he too can be one-shotted by Naruto.