Fortnite’s latest teaser trailer confirms the return of iconic characters for the next season, along with an Avengers: Doomsday-style countdown.
Today, Epic Games revealed a quick 26-second official teaser trailer for Fortnite: Showdown Chapter 7 Season 2—marking a return of The Foundation and The Ice King. The cinematic trailer also featured a countdown clock that resembled the recent Avengers: Doomsday teasers, along with the game’s new title for the upcoming event. It has been a while since players have seen The Foundation, a heroic character voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but it appears to be making a much-anticipated return.
The trailer released today showed The Ice King walking through a palace with notable Fortnite characters frozen in individual ice blocks. Among the frozen heroes are The Foundation, Lady Orelia, and Captain America, linking some Avengers: Doomsday aesthetics to the whole teaser trailer. Another MCU nod was when the text on the screen read: “The Foundation and The Ice King will return in Fortnite: Showdown,” before the words shift into the date—March 19, 2026. Then, a countdown clock revealed the weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds left to go until the update drops. The title “Showdown” is fitting for this season, as it represents the rivalry between the Seven, Dark Voyager, and The Ice King.
The new in-game location shown in the trailer was also a major reveal, as it offered a new and detailed version of The Ice King’s classic Polar Peak castle. Previous in-game images had teased the wintry palace and suggested it was home to one of the game’s current Zero Point shards. As far as lore goes, the implications suggest that the new Ice King is working with Fortnite’s latest big bad, The Dark Voyager, to collect the Zero Point’s broken shards for evil reasons. Although this goes against the original Ice King lore, which painted him more as a noble figure who freezes beings he has deemed a threat to reality.
However, this could be another Fortnite nod to Avengers: Doomsday, where fans already know Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU but as Dr. Victor von Doom. Fans are already discussing that the Dark Voyager may be capable of corrupting The Ice King, just like when he corrupted the previous Fortnite character, Lynx. It is also possible that The Ice King has turned bad now.
The original Ice King was a mysterious character who held The Prisoner captive back in Chapter 1. The Prisoner tried to convince everyone to use artifacts and beings to alter realities to their liking. The Ice King froze him with all the other knights before turning the ice on himself. However, after a cosmic storm tore off part of The Ice Moon, the Polar Peak Castle crashed onto the island, and allowed The Prisoner to free himself and form his own kingdom. The two factions became rivals until the fall of the Fire Kingdom following the Prisoner’s defeat.
After the death of The Devourer, The Ice King returned on the Ice Moon and made it unlivable for all beings in order to avoid anyone getting their hands on the dangerous artifacts and beings stored there. So, in the original reality, The Ice King was the GOAT. But now, an alternate variant of the Kingdom appears in Reality: UN-0-OG. This kingdom is watched over by The Dark Voyager and ruled by a new Ice King. The events of the Roundtable seemingly have occurred with little alteration. While all of this is speculation, the lore seems to add up. But only on March 19th will everything be revealed on the official website and in-game.
