It’s finally happening. Epic Games has officially confirmed that skins from the Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 4: Absolute Doom Battle Pass are coming back to the game — and this time, you won’t need to have played the season to get them. The Absolute Doom cosmetics are being unvaulted as part of a new programme called Unvaulted, with the first wave of returning skins hitting the Item Shop as separate bundles on June 28, 2026.
This is a milestone moment for Fortnite. For the first time ever, Battle Pass skins are officially making their way to the Item Shop — a policy shift that a huge chunk of the community has been hoping for ever since they missed their chance to earn them the first time around.
What Is the Unvaulted Programme?
Back in August 2024, Epic Games quietly changed one of Fortnite’s longest-standing rules. From Chapter 5 Season 4 onwards, Battle Pass cosmetics would no longer be permanently exclusive to players who grinded through the season. Instead, Epic reserved the right to re-release those items in the Item Shop — but only after a minimum 18-month waiting period following the season’s end.
The Absolute Doom season ran from August 16 to November 2, 2024, making it the first season to fall under this new policy. Its 18-month eligibility window opened in May 2026, and Epic has now pulled the trigger on bringing those cosmetics back under the Unvaulted banner. The announcement came via a teaser on Fortnite’s official X account, showing a camera moving through a series of vault gates before landing on a file labelled “UNVAULTED: Battle Pass C5S4”, with the caption: “The vault has been opened and we’re pulling a few things from this file.”
It’s worth being clear about what Unvaulted means going forward: it’s not a permanent shop addition for all past seasons at once. Each season’s Battle Pass content becomes eligible after its own 18-month window closes, which means Absolute Doom is just the first wave. Other seasons from Chapter 5 onwards will follow in their own time.
Which Skins Are Coming Back?
Epic hasn’t confirmed exactly which skins from the Absolute Doom pass will return first, or whether the entire roster will come back simultaneously. Given the sheer size of the pass, it’s likely not everything shows up at once. That said, every skin that was originally part of the Chapter 5 Season 4 Battle Pass is eligible to return, and here’s the full list of what was included:
- Doctor Doom — the season’s main villain and centerpiece of the Absolute Doom story arc
- Emma Frost — one of the season’s boss characters, available on the island at The Raft POI
- War Machine — came with a full set of themed weapons as part of the season’s gameplay mechanics
- Gwenpool — a fan-favourite crossover character that generated serious buzz when it was revealed
- Mysterio — the illusion-based villain who spawned as a boss at Doomstadt
- Shuri — another Marvel heavy-hitter added to the Fortnite roster this season
- Peelverine — the beloved banana-skin Wolverine mashup that became one of the most memed skins of 2024
- Captain Jones — the narrative tie-in skin connecting Fortnite’s ongoing lore to the Marvel crossover
Each returning skin is expected to be sold as a separate bundle in the Item Shop. Based on the pricing seen when Captain Phasma — from the First Order LEGO Pass — came to the shop back in May 2026, individual skins should land around 1,500 V-Bucks, with bundles that include accompanying back blings, pickaxes, emotes, and gliders likely running around 2,000 V-Bucks.
Is It Worth Buying Now If You Already Have the Pass?
If you played Absolute Doom and grinded through the Battle Pass back in 2024, you’re not losing anything here. Players who earned these skins the original way still got the better deal — the full Battle Pass cost 800 V-Bucks and included every cosmetic, every style, and every bonus reward for a fraction of what individual Item Shop purchases will cost. The Unvaulted versions are almost certainly going to be base skins only, without the Supercharged styles that required additional XP grinding during the original season. The Super Styles remain a question mark for now.
For everyone who missed the season and has been waiting for a second shot at Doctor Doom or Gwenpool specifically, though, this is the opportunity that’s been a long time coming.
More Fortnite Collabs Are Coming Fast
The Unvaulted announcement is landing during one of the busier stretches for Fortnite collab news. During Epic’s recent State of Unreal event, the studio confirmed a loaded list of upcoming crossovers heading to the game. Dave the Diver was slated to arrive in the game on June 25, with Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, Vampire Survivors, Phantom Blade Zero, Rick and Morty, and Control Resonant all confirmed as upcoming collabs. An Olivia Rodrigo skin was also officially locked in for summer 2026.
The Fortnite 41.10 update dropping later this week will also be the last major patch before Epic takes its annual two-week summer break, so the Unvaulted launch timing on June 28 lands right in that window.
For more gaming news, check out our breakdown of retailers refusing to sell GTA 6 over its code-in-box physical edition and the leaked GTA 6 Collector’s Edition price that Rockstar still hasn’t officially confirmed. We also covered the big Xbox console updates rolling out to Insiders this week, and if you’re keeping tabs on what’s coming for next-gen hardware, our PS6 price prediction roundup is worth reading.
