Fortnite adds Black Panther tribute statue in game

By Jon Silman Published September 17, 2020

Just days after Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman passed away, Fortnite added a fitting monument to the character in the game.

The statue, called Panther’s Prowl, plays ambient Wakanda-like music when nearby and depicts a massive panther carved out of stone. The statue can be found just west of the Misty Meadows on the side of the hill on a glowing rock. The statue is the latest Marvel-themed object added to the game since Fortnite started Season 4 after Ant-Man and X-Men references made recent appearances.

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Boseman died on August 28 of colon cancer, with his family by his side. He played several famous public figures over the years, including Black baseball player Jackie Robinson and singer James Brown. But his most famous role may have been Black Panther, and Boseman was acutely aware of the power of that character.

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“To be young, gifted, and Black… We know what it’s like to be told that there’s not a screen for you to be featured on,” Boseman said at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards, accepting a prize for the movie. “We knew we had something special that we wanted to give the world.”

A spokesperson at Epic Games told Digital Trends that the statue was planned before the actor’s death.

“As with the rest of the world, we were greatly saddened to learn of the passing of actor Chadwick Boseman,” the spokesperson said. “The Black Panther monument arrived this morning as part of a previously-planned narrative for the new Chapter 2 – Season 4 season.”

Several players are sharing screenshots of tribute next to the statue as well. One Reddit user shared a screenshot of Captain America saluting the Panther’s Prowl statue with the caption, “Always Our King.”

Fortnite players get the Marvel updates with the launch of the new season. All except mobile and MacOS players, of course, following an ongoing legal scuffle between Epic Games and Apple over App Store fees. Epic broke Apple’s payment rules and was subsequently denied developer access to the game. This issue also extends to Google’s Play Store.

The game will still work, but players won’t get new content until the dispute is settled. A lawsuit is currently making its way through the courts.

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