Fortnite, by Epic Games, launched in 2017 as a co-op survival game called Save the World, then added the free Battle Royale mode that took over the world. A hundred players drop onto an island, gather weapons, build and fight until one player or team is left. The skins you wear don't change how you play, but they became the game's real identity, and some of them grew into characters with personalities, rivalries and plots.
So "Fortnite characters" means three things. There are the original icons Epic created, like Jonesy, Peely and Fishstick. There are the lore characters who drive the story told through live events and seasons. And there are the crossover guests, from Marvel heroes to anime legends, who visit the island. This page takes each in turn.
- Developer
- Epic Games
- Battle Royale launch
- September 2017
- Story told through
- Seasonal battle passes, live events, map changes
- Other modes
- Save the World, LEGO Fortnite, Fortnite Festival, Creative
Original Fortnite icons
These are Epic's own characters, most of them introduced through battle passes or the item shop. They're the skins people recognise even if they've never played.
Jonesy
Default skin · Agent Jones
Jonesy began as one of the plain default soldiers, the look every new player wore. Over time Epic turned him into the face of the game: a likeable everyman who shows up in countless variants, from Bunker Jonesy to the Imagined Order's Agent Jones. In the story he's one of the few characters who knows the island is a loop, and he spends several chapters trying to work out whose side he's on.
Peely
Banana · Chapter 1 Season 8
Peely is a walking banana with a goofy smile and a lot of enthusiasm, introduced in the 2019 battle pass. He became Fortnite's unofficial mascot, with spin-offs including Agent Peely and many seasonal outfits. His popularity showed that Fortnite's humour mattered as much as its cool-looking skins.
Fishstick
Fish-headed skin · Early 2019
Fishstick is a fish-headed character with a vacant, cheerful face. At first he looked like a throwaway joke; then he turned into a fan favourite and gained a whole "fish family" of variants. He's also part of the story, popping up in live events and as a recurring NPC.
Drift
Fox-masked skater · Chapter 1 Season 5
Drift is a street skater in a fox mask whose outfit evolved as you levelled up the battle pass, an idea that was new for Fortnite at the time. He was one of the game's most popular skins during its 2018 peak and later turned up in story events.
Cuddle Team Leader
Pink bear suit · Valentine's 2018
Cuddle Team Leader is a soldier in a fluffy pink bear costume with a heart on the belly. The joke of a cute costume in a shootout made it one of Fortnite's most recognisable skins, and it has led to many variants since.
Black Knight
Chapter 1 Season 2 battle pass
Black Knight was the final reward of an early battle pass, so only players who were there in 2017 own it. That rarity made it a status symbol and a fixture of "OG skin" lists.
Renegade Raider and Skull Trooper
2017 item shop skins
Renegade Raider was one of the very first skins in the shop, and Skull Trooper arrived for Halloween 2017. Both are prized by long-time players because they were so rarely available, and both have returned in later forms.
Merry Marauder
Gingerbread skin · Winter 2017
Merry Marauder is the original gingerbread-man skin from Fortnite's first winter. It's a small, silly design, but it has become a nostalgic symbol of the early game.
Lore characters
Fortnite tells its story through the map: rifts, meteors, vaults and one-time live events. Under that runs a long plot about the Loop, the cycle that keeps the battle royale repeating, the Imagined Order trying to control it, and the Seven trying to break it.
The Visitor
The Seven · Chapter 1
The Visitor is a mysterious astronaut who arrived inside a meteor in Chapter 1 Season 4. He built and launched the rocket that cracked the sky open in 2018's first big live event. Long before anyone knew what the Seven were, he was the first sign that the island's story was bigger than a shooter.
The Foundation
Leader of the Seven
The Foundation is the armoured leader of the Seven who came to the fore as Chapter 2 ended. He's voiced by and modelled on Dwayne Johnson, which was itself a surprise reveal. He plays a central role in the end of Chapter 2 and the start of Chapter 3, putting himself at great risk to protect reality from the Imagined Order.
The Paradigm
The Seven
The Paradigm is a member of the Seven from another reality who was taken in by the Imagined Order before regaining her memory. She shows how much the IO relies on wiping people's minds to keep the Loop running.
The Scientist, the Imagined and the Origin
The Seven
The Seven's other known members entered the story at different points. The Scientist worked alongside the Visitor in Chapter 1's closing seasons, while the Imagined and the Origin arrived later. Their stories unfold across several seasons rather than any one event, and each plays a part in the long fight against the Imagined Order.
Doctor Slone
Imagined Order commander
Slone is the cold, ruthless face of the Imagined Order, the organisation that runs the Loop. She manipulates Jonesy and the island's characters, and she's willing to sacrifice anyone to keep control. For much of Chapters 2 and 3 she's the story's main villain.
Midas
Chapter 2 Season 2 · The Agency
Midas leads a secret spy organisation and turns whatever he touches to gold, which is why he wears gloves. He's the season's villain, scheming to stop the Storm with a doomsday device whose 2020 live event flooded the island. He returns repeatedly and becomes one of Fortnite's most layered characters, with his own family drama through his daughter Jules.
Meowscles, Skye, Brutus and TNTina
Chapter 2 Season 2 agents
Midas's spy season introduced a team of agents. Meowscles is a muscle-bound cat, Skye is a cheerful adventurer with a little companion called Ollie, Brutus is a hulking enforcer, and TNTina is an explosives expert. They became some of the most popular original characters in the game and kept returning in later stories.
The Cube Queen
Chapter 2 Season 8
The Cube Queen is a powerful figure from the Last Reality who commands the purple cubes that once hovered over the island. Her invasion was the main threat of Chapter 2's last full season.
Crossover characters
Fortnite's guest list is the reason non-players know the game. Almost every major franchise has visited, usually as skins and sometimes as bosses, map areas or whole seasons. Here are the collaborations that defined it:
| Franchise | Characters | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Marvel | Thanos, Iron Man, Wolverine, Deadpool, Doctor Doom and many more | The 2018 Infinity Gauntlet mode came first; a full Marvel season followed in 2020 and Doctor Doom led a 2024 season |
| Star Wars | The Mandalorian, Darth Vader, Rey, Kylo Ren and others | The Mandalorian headlined a 2020 battle pass |
| DC | Batman, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and others | Batman's Gotham crossover was one of the early big ones |
| Naruto | Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi | The first big anime crossover, in 2021 |
| Dragon Ball | Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Beerus | Arrived in 2022 |
| Games | Kratos, Master Chief, Lara Croft, Solid Snake | Kratos, Master Chief and Lara Croft arrived during Chapter 2 |
| Family Guy | Peter Griffin | A battle pass skin in Chapter 5 |
| Music | Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Eminem, Snoop Dogg | Concert-style live events and Icon Series skins |
Musicians and streamers appear through the Icon Series, which started with Ninja in 2020. Some of the biggest live events in the game's history were concerts, including Travis Scott's in 2020 and Ariana Grande's in 2021.
Fortnite's story by chapter
- 2017–2019 Chapter 1: the original island, the Visitor's rocket, the cube Kevin, and the black-hole event that ended it.
- 2019–2021 Chapter 2: a new island, Midas and the Agency, a Marvel season, the Zero Point, the Seven and the Imagined Order.
- 2021–2022 Chapter 3: the island flips, the Foundation and the Seven fight the IO, and Doctor Slone takes centre stage.
- 2022–2023 Chapter 4: a new island and a more loosely connected run of seasons.
- 2023–2024 Chapter 5: launched alongside LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing and Fortnite Festival, with seasons built around Greek gods, a wasteland and Doctor Doom.
- From late 2024 Chapter 6 and beyond: new islands and seasonal themes continue, with collabs as central as ever.
In 2023 Epic also brought back the original Chapter 1 island for a limited OG season, and a permanent OG mode followed. That's why the original skins still feel current.
Save the World
Fortnite's original paid co-op mode has its own cast. Players command heroes against storm monsters called Husks, guided by Ray, a cheerful floating robot head. Several Battle Royale defaults, including Ramirez and Jonesy, began life as Save the World heroes, so the two modes share more than most players realise.
Why Fortnite's characters work
Fortnite gets away with putting a banana, a Jedi and a Greek god in the same match because its own characters set a tone first: bright, silly and easy to read at a distance. Peely and Fishstick told players that nothing on the island had to be taken seriously, which made room for everyone else. It's the opposite approach to Among Us, where everyone looks the same, and a cousin of Roblox, where the avatar is whatever you make it. The difference is that Fortnite also built a story around its cast, and kept it running for years.
Fortnite characters A–Z
B–D
- Black Knight — Chapter 1
- Brutus — Chapter 2
- Cube Queen — Chapter 2
- Cuddle Team Leader — Chapter 1
- Doctor Slone — Imagined Order
- Drift — Chapter 1
F–J
- Fishstick — Chapter 1
- The Foundation — the Seven
- The Imagined — the Seven
- Jonesy — default, lore
- Jules — Midas's daughter
M–O
- Meowscles — Chapter 2
- Merry Marauder — Chapter 1
- Midas — Chapter 2
- The Origin — the Seven
P–R
- The Paradigm — the Seven
- Peely — Chapter 1
- Ramirez — default
- Ray — Save the World
- Renegade Raider — Chapter 1
S–V
- The Scientist — the Seven
- Skull Trooper — Chapter 1
- Skye — Chapter 2
- TNTina — Chapter 2
- The Visitor — the Seven
Frequently asked questions
Who is the main character of Fortnite?
Jonesy is the closest Fortnite has to a main character. He started as one of the default skins and grew into a lore figure, Agent Jones, who works inside the Imagined Order and later against it. Many versions of Jonesy exist across the multiverse, which the game uses as a running joke.
What is Jonesy's real name in Fortnite?
He's simply called Jonesy, and in the story he's known as Agent Jones. The game plays with the idea that there are countless Jonesys across different realities, so there isn't one fixed version.
Who are the Seven in Fortnite?
The Seven are a group of beings working to break the Loop, the cycle that keeps the island's battle royale repeating. Known members include the Foundation, the Visitor, the Scientist, the Paradigm, the Imagined and the Origin. The Foundation, their leader, is voiced by and modelled on Dwayne Johnson.
Who is the villain in Fortnite?
It changes by season. The longest-running antagonist is the Imagined Order, led for much of Chapters 2 and 3 by Doctor Slone. Other major villains include the Cube Queen and Chapter 2's Midas, who started as a villain and became something more complicated.
What was the first Fortnite collab skin?
The first big crossover was the Infinity Gauntlet mode in 2018, which let players become Thanos from the Avengers films for a limited time. Marvel has remained Fortnite's most frequent partner since.