One Phone Call Changed Fortnite Forever

Summary

The Russo brothers convinced Epic Games to add Thanos to Fortnite after a 5-hour call with Donald Mustard.
Fortnite’s next mini-season may feature a major collaboration with The Simpsons.
King of the Hill, Bob’s Burgers, and Family Guy will be receiving new Fortnite skins on June 13.

It was recently revealed that Epic Games wasn’t interested in bringing outside characters to Fortnite until the Russo brothers spent over five hours on the phone with Donald Mustard and convinced him to add Thanos to the battle royale. Today, Fortnite regularly collaborates with other franchises, bringing everything from Dragon Ball Z to Star Wars into the game.

In fact, Epic Games recently wrapped up Fortnite‘s Galactic Battle mini-season, which featured its largest collaboration with Star Wars so far. During the major crossover, the battle royale’s entire loot pool shifted over to Star Wars weapons, which arrived alongside several iconic locations and characters on the map. Recent rumors have indicated that another mini-season could be on the way, but this one may be focused on bringing The Simpsons to Fortnite. Multiple leakers have claimed that the map for the mini-season will be based on Springfield, though it would likely be smaller than the current battle royale island.

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As reported by The Game Business, Epic Games was originally against the idea of putting collaboration skins in Fortnite, but that all changed after a single call from the Russo brothers. Joe and Anthony Russo directed Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, two of Marvel’s biggest movies to date. Pete Wanat, who works with the Russo brothers as the president of interactive technology at AGBO, revealed that the two directors wanted Thanos to invade Fortnite. Unfortunately, Epic Games’ chief creative officer at the time, Donald Mustard, wasn’t interested in the idea. According to Wanat, Mustard didn’t want to put any outside characters into Fortnite, a concept that almost seems unbelievable in 2025.

Donald Mustard Didn’t Want Outside Characters in Fortnite

Everything changed after the Russo brothers arranged a phone call with Donald Mustard. While the meeting was only supposed to last for about 30 minutes, the trio ended up speaking for over five hours. By the end of the call, Mustard changed his mind about the collaboration, which resulted in Thanos being added to Fortnite. Mustard later went on to leave Epic Games and now works with Joe and Anthony Russo at AGBO.

To say that the phone call changed the popular battle royale would be an understatement, as the game is now filled to the brim with collaboration skins, items, and events. In fact, Family Guy, Bob‘s Burgers, and King of the Hill are coming to Fortnite on June 13 as part of a major crossover with Fox’s animation properties. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to say that the phone call between Mustard and the Russo brothers may have influenced other games as well, as many titles now regularly collaborate with films, television, and other forms of media. With so much content to enjoy and even more on the way, many fans are excited about the future of Fortnite.