Wacky Glitch Gives Fortnite’s New Spider-Man Skin a Silly Name

Iconic Marvel super hero Spider-Man might have a new name among Fortnite fans, thanks to an amusing glitch that saw the character’s latest skin given an unusual and unrelated name. The skin debuted in the latest Fortnite update, which saw a crossover with Marvel heroes and villains alike arriving for a spot of battle royale action.

Marvel and Fortnite are increasingly looking like a match made in heaven, judging by the number of times Marvel characters have appeared in the popular game for one crossover event or another. The latest crossover, called Absolute Doom, launched with Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4, and welcomed a number of new skins based on Marvel characters to the mix, including Gwenpool, Shuri, Emma Frost, Mysterio, and War Machine.

Absolute Doom also added the new Iron Spider Fortnite skin, a version of Spider-Man’s outfit decked out in Iron Man’s iconic red and gold colors. But for Fortnite player Britishbreadish, the Iron Spider skin arrived under a very different name: Middlesock. They shared the odd occurrence with the game’s Reddit community in search of answers.

Amusing Glitch Renames Fortnite Iron Spider Skin to Middlesock

Britishbreadish said they encountered the strange glitch while browsing the Fortnite interface in the Polish language, showing off a prominent store page promoting the Iron Spider costume as “Middlesock.” As they were unfamiliar with the many names and costumes found in the Spider-Verse, Britishbreadish was unsure if Middlesock was some sort of canonical name for the Iron Spider, or if the issue was a result of some bug or oversight.

According to amused fellow Fortnite players, “Middlesock” was developer Epic Games’ internal code name for the Iron Spider set. Its appearance on the Fortnite store page suggests that the placeholder text was not replaced or somehow reverted in the Polish language display. The word itself has no connection to any particular Spider-Man costume or character, but fans clarified that Epic Games typically uses unrelated or nonsense code names for skins in the game data to try to keep new skins from being revealed too early by data miners or leakers.

Given the level of anticipation that follows any information about new Fortnite skins and other pop culture products like new movies and series, it’s no surprise that creators go to some lengths to preserve the sense of surprise and secrecy around their productions. Even Hollywood films use misleading code names (or “working titles”) for some films. Marvel Studios’ The Avengers was code-named “Group Hug” during its filming, so it’s almost appropriate that a Fortnite skin featuring a famous Marvel character would also have a similarly obscure code name.

Fortnite

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Released

July 25, 2017

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

ESRB

T for Teen – Violence

Steam Deck Compatibility

N/A

X|S Enhanced

YES

PS Plus Availability

N/A

Split Screen Orientation

Horizontal Only

Number of Players

1-2

Local Co-Op Support

1-2 Players

Cross Save

yes

Cross-Platform Play

Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

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