If you are not in the know, Epic Games’ Fortnite kicked off its new season with a Marvel superhero theme. The Fortnite Nexus Wars brings together a team of superheroes and villains in the colorful world of the battle royale. Players can grab skins, cosmetics, and collectibles. Marvel-themed locations and landmarks have also started popping up, and players are certainly of fun fighting around these locations. Yet, one of them has taken on a more important purpose. The Fortnite Panther’s Prowl location is a massive statue which stands as a tribute to the Black Panther, and it’s seeing plenty of traffic.
This is due to the fact that Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman passed away on August 28. Aged 43, the actor succumbed to colon cancer. However, his impact as a performer and most notably, his portrayal of T’Challa, certainly affected plenty of people. As a result, Fortnite players have flooded to Panther’s Prowl to pay tribute to Boseman.
Beautiful Black Panther area in Fortnite 🖤
Rest in Power Chadwick Boseman 🙏#Fortnite #BlackPanther #gamer pic.twitter.com/k7ILuMbaDI— TeamBBB (@TeamBBB123) September 1, 2020
Fans also flooded social media with tribute images and clips. Many have called for the proceeds raised via the sale of a Black Panther skin to be donated to charity. While Epic has not confirmed the skin for Fortnite yet, dataminer HypeX has already found evidence for it. HypeX also previously outed the addition of Panther’s Prowl before it showed up in the game.
A coincidental tribute
Despite the timing of it, Epic maintains the addition was coincidental in a sense. The studio had already planned for the statue’s addition before Boseman’s unfortunate passing.
“As with the rest of the world, we were greatly saddened to learn of the passing of actor Chadwick Boseman,” a representative explained. “The Black Panther monument arrived this morning as part of a previously-planned narrative for the new Chapter 2 Season 4 season.”
You can find the Panther’s Prowl just west of Misty Meadows. Wakanda forever, and may the king rest in peace.