It Really Seems Like TMNT Is Coming To Fortnite Soon

It’s starting to look very much like Fortnite Chapter 5 could deliver one of the most-anticipated collaborations in Fortnite’s history: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While not yet confirmed, there are several pieces of very compelling evidence, including plenty of new stuff that was added to the game with the Chapter 5 patch, and two details that were introduced in the season trailer.

The first detail that caught everyone’s eye was a glowing manhole cover in the trailer–the Turtles live in the sewer, after all–and then at the end of the trailer, in the fine print that you can read over the season key art, it lists a copyright notice by Viacom, the parent conglomerate of Paramount Pictures that owns the TMNT brand. It was tough not to jump to conclusions based on those two things. Fortunately, we’ve got even more evidence now that Fortnite dataminers have had time to look through the Chapter 5 files.

After actually playing some matches in Chapter 5, it turns out that the manholes currently function the same way as the old portal toilets–you jump in one manhole and pop out of another one some ways away. While there’s nothing inherently TMNT-related about that, the manholes really are a TMNT thing, according to dataminers who have discovered a TMNT lair in the files that you’ll be able to access through TMNT-branded manholes in the future.

It’s tough to look at that second image and not think of the Ninja Turtles, who were born of glowing green ooze and love pizza. And if all of that isn’t enough for you, here’s some graffiti that was found in the files–it’s actually visible in-game at one of the train stations on the island.

When Fortnite collaborated with Paramount Pictures on Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in June, it gave a lot of fans hope that a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collab could follow because TMNT is owned by Paramount. But the latest TMNT theatrical film came and went in August while Fortnite held a Jujutsu Kaisen event to end the summer season, and hopes faded. But now it really seems to be happening.

It’s impossible to say when this collab will kick off since it hasn’t actually been announced yet. But if the Viacom copyright in the trailer is actually related to TMNT, then it should happen this season unless it gets canceled–either as another mini-pass to end the season, or as part of Winterfest later this month like the My Hero Academia event last December.