Dataminers have unearthed new Fortnite skins for Miles Morales, and also Miguel O’Hara, AKA Spider-Man 2099.
The two join Spider-Ghost Gwen Stacy and the OG Spider-Man, Peter Parker, as skins in Fortnite. As reported by Comic Book, pictures of the skins were shared online. You can see them in the tweet below.
Epic has opted to lean into the Spider-Verse promotion and based the skins on their appearances in the upcoming Sony Pictures film Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Given that Sony has a little bit of money invested in Spider-Man and Fortnite developer Epic Games, this was a no-brainer.
Spider-Man 2099 is reportedly set to be an antagonist in the film, but to really understand Miguel, we really have to go back to his creation. That didn’t actually happen in 2099 (76 years from now!) but instead 1992.
Predating Batman Beyond by a good seven years, Spider-Man 2099 was part of Marvel’s 2099 comics line, set over a hundred years after what was then the status quo. While some Marvel characters, like Dr Doom and the Hulk, would prove long lived to still be in that period, some heroes would be emerging using old superhero identities, but being completely different people. So Miguel O’Hara didn’t belong in an alternate universe originally, so much as a potential future to the one Peter Parker lived in.
Miguel himself was head of the genetics program at multinational corporation Alchemax. After one of their experiments leads to someone dying, Miguel tries to leave the company, but is blackmailed to stay, and is later given spider abilities against his will by genetic tampering on his own body.
Miguel wasn’t really originally a superhero, and initially only wanted to get revenge on Alchemax. As he does more superheroics, he reforms as a person and becomes a true hero.
But if you were a PS360 gamer, you would have known about Miguel from something else entirely. Indeed, Miguel was one of multiple Spider-Men who appeared in the video games Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Spider-Man: The Edge of Time. While Miguel appeared in other video games and cartoons before, this is the first media outside of the comics where fans really got to know his character.
As for Fortnite, casual fans will probably see him mostly as bigger Spider-Man, since he was just a cameo in the first Spider-Verse movie and newer fans don’t know him yet. But if you’re a real Spider-fan you’ll know he’s entirely unique from every other Spiderhero.
