One of the biggest announcements during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live was the reveal that yes, Borderlands 4 exists. That is not a terribly big surprise given that it’s been hinted at, very unsubtly, for ages now. Rather, the real news was that it actually has a 2025 release date, which is closer than many may have imagined, even though yes, it’s already been five years since Borderlands 3.
Fans are trying to decipher exactly what’s going on with teleporting moons and likely Eridian hands holding Psycho masks, but at the end, there are flashes of a number of images and symbols, and for a few reasons, it feels like there is at least some amount of evidence to point to the return of Handsome Jack, the infamous Borderlands 2 villain.
The most obvious thing people are pointing to is a frame where a sideways vault symbol appears over a partial face show on the screen. The angle is such where it does seem to emulate the scar Lilith gave Jack’s true face in the games.
Past that, the code at the end has been solved from the trailer by YouTuber Skarrow, a veteran of cracking Destiny 2 codes and secrets, and he figured it out in like five minutes. The message is HE IS WATCHING, BREAK FREE. So at the very least, it’s a he, not a she, or a they, which could have referred to the Eridian. And it’s clearly a human. Not a lot to go on there but a “category” at least that aligns with Jack.
Finally my theory is that Gearbox just…wants to play it safe. They are well aware of the reception to Borderlands 3’s story, which included new villains who were essentially evil Twitch streamers. The problem? I have beaten BL3 probably five times at this point, and I cannot remember their names. I have to look it up right now. Troy and Tyreen Calypso. Right.
The problem is even if Jack is a “fan-favorite” villain I think at this point most fans think it would be a bit…bad to bring him back again as a villain, or the villain in Borderlands 4. Yes, he took 3 off, but in addition to Borderlands 2, Jack has been a key part of other games like Tales from the Borderlands and his clone was an entire class in the Pre-Sequel. He only escaped being in the just-released Borderlands movie as they were no doubt saving him for a follow-up (which will not happen). They’d also have to come up with some convoluted explanation for how he’s cheated death.
My gut tells me they’re doing Jack again, and even the light amount of evidence here reinforces that. I don’t think Gearbox wants another Troy and Tyreen situation and they think that Jack is a can’t-miss known quantity. But I think most fans think he’s a little too known at this point. I hope I’m wrong, and it’s someone new but just as memorable as Jack.
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