‘Fortnite’ umbrella floats ‘Kingsman’ movies tribute
Taron Egerton. Image: courtesy of 20th Century Fox via AFP Relaxnews
In a game known for its film tie-ins, a bullet-deflecting umbrella gives players a last-chance reprise ahead of 2020’s “Kingsman” movie prequel.
Rolled out as part of March 31’s “Fortnite” game update, a new piece of equipment called the Kingsman lets players float, swipe and deflect projectiles.
Just like in 20th Century Fox’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2015) and “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” (2017), the Kingsman umbrella allows players to swipe and stab at players with melée attacks that appear equally derived from fencing and cricket.
New kingsman umbrella #Fortnite pic.twitter.com/MtqDxEQMSG
— 🐰Astro🐰 (@AstroIoxy) March 31, 2020
The smart black personal canopy can be used to slow mid-air ascents and rotated at high speed to deflect incoming projectiles.
“Fortnite” has engaged in numerous official movie and comic book tie-ins, including those surrounding Marvel’s “Avengers” ensemble movies, DC Comics’ Batman Day, Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and Lionsgate’s Keanu Reeves action movie franchise “John Wick”.
Notably, the John Wick character was part of “Fortnite” lore before Lionsgate’s involvement: a supremely similar costume (or “skin”) was introduced in February 2018.
Known as The Reaper, the limited availability look was swiftly dubbed The Wick, or simply John Wick, by the “Fortnite” community, at least up until an official John Wick character model, bearing greater likeness to film actor Keanu Reeves, went on sale through the in-game shop in May 2019.
“Fortnite” developer and publisher Epic Games has not published patch notes to explain its game updates since October 2019, when it rebooted the game as “Fortnite: Chapter 2”, so there’s no official commentary on the Kingsman or other additions in version 12.30.
However, the timing is good, as 20th Century Fox has provisionally dated franchise prequel “The King’s Man” for September 2020.
The Kingsman motif also dovetails nicely with a secret agent theme debuting as part of “Fortnite” Season 2: Chapter 2, which started February 20.
Epic and 20th Century Fox have already collaborated with the gradual introduction of superhero character Deadpool into the cross-platform console, computer and mobile game, also coinciding with the start of Chapter 2.
The free-to-play game is supported by optional seasonal passes and virtual item purchases. JB
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