If you ask a random person in a Creative lobby what the first Fortnite collab skin was, they’ll probably scream "Thanos!" at the top of their lungs. Or maybe they'll try to sound smart and mention the Marshmello concert.
Honestly? They’re wrong.
Don't get me wrong, the purple Titan was a massive deal, but he wasn't a skin you could actually own back then. He was a "transformation." To find the real ancestor of the modern crossover skin, we have to travel back to a time before the Item Shop was a billion-dollar Marvel and Star Wars museum. We’re talking early 2018, when the game was still finding its feet and the idea of Batman flossing was a fever dream.
The Forgotten Pioneers: Havoc and Sub Commander
While the internet loves a good "Thanos snapped" narrative, the actual title for the first Fortnite collab skin belongs to a duo most modern players have never even seen. On February 28, 2018, Epic Games dropped the very first Twitch Prime Pack.
This wasn't just a random drop. It was the birth of the "Collab" as we know it today.
Inside that pack were two skins: Havoc and Sub Commander. Havoc looked like a tactical, military-grade version of the Raptor skin, sporting a dark balaclava and camo gear. Sub Commander was… well, he was basically a default with a hat and some different colors, but he was ours.
- Release Date: February 28, 2018
- The Partnership: Twitch (owned by Amazon)
- Availability: Exclusive to Twitch Prime members (now Prime Gaming)
These weren't just "inspired" by something; they were the direct result of a legal partnership between Epic Games and Amazon. They paved the way for every single Icon Series and Gaming Legends skin we see today. If you have Havoc in your locker, you’re sitting on a piece of archaeological gaming history.
Why Everyone Thinks it Was Thanos
It’s easy to see why the history gets muddled. In May 2018, the Infinity Gauntlet Limited Time Mashup happened. This was huge. It was the first time a massive movie franchise (Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War) officially shook hands with a video game in such a public way.
But here’s the kicker: Thanos was not a skin.
You couldn't buy him. You couldn't equip him in the locker. You had to find the Gauntlet on the map, and then you became him for that match. It was a gameplay mechanic, not a cosmetic. The first actual Marvel skins you could put in your locker didn't arrive until much later in April 2019 (Black Widow and Star-Lord).
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So, while Thanos gets the credit for making collabs "cool," Havoc and Sub Commander were the ones actually sitting in lockers two months earlier.
The Slow Burn of Early Crossovers
Back in Chapter 1, Epic was kinda cautious. They didn't just flood the shop with Nike or Dragon Ball Z every Tuesday. After the Twitch Prime skins, we had a weird trickle of collaborations that felt more like experiments than the global events they are now.
- The NFL Set (November 2018): This was the first time we saw massive customization with a collab. You could swap between all 32 NFL teams.
- Marshmello (February 2019): This changed everything. It wasn't just a skin; it was a live event. It proved Fortnite could be a venue, not just a game.
- John Wick (May 2019): Not to be confused with "The Reaper" from the Season 3 Battle Pass (which was a total knock-off). The real Keanu Reeves skin showed up for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.
It’s wild to think about how much the definition of a "collab" has shifted. In the early days, a skin like Blue Team Leader (PlayStation Plus exclusive) was technically a collab with Sony, but players rarely count those because they feel like "platform rewards" rather than "crossovers."
The Borderlands Shift
If you want to know when the "Gaming Legends" era truly started, look at August 2019. The Psycho Bandit from Borderlands arrived. This was the first time another major video game character jumped ship into the Fortnite universe.
Before this, collabs were mostly movies or brands. Bringing in the Psycho Bandit proved that even "rival" games wanted a piece of the Fortnite pie. It set the stage for Kratos, Master Chief, and eventually even characters from Nintendo properties (well, okay, maybe not Nintendo yet, they’re still holding out).
Lessons from the OG Locker
What can we actually learn from looking back at Havoc and Sub Commander?
First off, rarity is a funny thing. Havoc is technically one of the rarest skins in the game because you had to link a Twitch account back when the game was still relatively "new" compared to its peak. You can't buy him. He hasn't returned in 8 years.
Second, it shows that Epic Games was always thinking about the "meta-verse" before that word became a cringe-worthy corporate buzzword. They knew that Fortnite shouldn't just be about Fortnite. It should be a place where all of pop culture lives together.
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Actionable Tips for Collab Collectors
If you're looking to keep your locker valuable or you're just a fan of these crossovers, here’s how to navigate the current scene:
- Check your "Exclusives": Many of the earliest collabs (Twitch Prime, early PS Plus, Samsung Galaxy) are "one and done." They almost never return to the shop because the contracts expire.
- Don't ignore the "small" collabs: Everyone saves for the big Marvel or Star Wars skins, but often the random, niche collabs (like Wu-Tang Clan or Mistborn) end up being the rarest down the line because fewer people bought them.
- Understand the "Series" tags: If a skin has a special background (Marvel, DC, Gaming Legends, Icon), it’s a collab. If it doesn't, it's an Epic original—even if it looks like a parody of something else.
The next time someone tries to tell you Thanos was the first Fortnite collab skin, you can politely (or not so politely) correct them. It was a guy in a grey camo suit and a Twitch subscription. It wasn't flashy, and it didn't have a giant purple gauntlet, but it changed the trajectory of the game forever.
Now that you know where the crossover madness started, you might want to double-check your own locker. You might have a "dead" account from 2018 sitting on some of the most historic pixels in gaming history. Go look for Havoc; he’s been waiting a long time.