Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4 Start Date, Marvel Battle Pass, New Locations

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. But since the Marvel season has been announced without any references to Festival at all, the timing is probably just a matter of convenience.

The new season has been revealed, and it’s Fortnite’s second Marvel season. Doctor Doom is the headliner, and will be available as the mid-season skin on the battle pass. In the linear part of the pass, we’re getting 5 actual Marvel characters, along with a pair of Fortnite-original characters in cosplay. These are the Chapter 5 Season 4 battle pass skins:

• Gwenpool (instant unlock)
• Black Panther (Shuri)
• Emma Frost
• Mysterio
• War Machine
• Peelverine
• Captain Jonesy

On top of that, we’ll have a variety of superpower items to use this season, including the Iron Man and War Machine arsenals, Shuri’s claws, and Doom’s gauntlets.

The Map is also being overhauled with at least two new Doctor Doom-themed locations, one of which is his Latverian castle. It appears the changes will primarily affect the northern part of the map with Lavish Lair and Classy Courts, as well as the region with Pleasant Piazza–all of which has gone untouched throughout Chapter 5.

There’s no sign of the Fantastic Four here, strangely enough–they’d make so much since to include for a season focused on Doctor Doom. But with the Doom skin not being available until later, it’s extremely possible the Fantastic Four will arrive in the shop and/or a mini event pass timed to Doom’s release, similar to how the Avatar cosmetics popped up a week after Korra’s quests became available during the spring season.

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. But it’s more likely just for the sake of convenience in updating everything all at once.

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.

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.