The Fortnite live event saw 5.6 million players defeat Doctor Doom in an hour-long battle

Fortnite brought the storyline of its current Marvel season to a climax tonight in an exciting battle with Doctor Doom, which simultaneously attracted a peak number of 5.6 million players.

Over the course of an hour, players worked together to take on a giant, rampaging version of the classic Marvel villain until eventually his armor cracked, his health bar depleted, and he was pulled back to the corner of the Marvel multiverse where he wanted sprung.

Fortnite's own stats show that there were a total of 5.6 million players in the game just after 7pm UK time this evening, when this evening's live event began. This is the game's highest concurrent number since last December, when 11.6 million players turned out for the Big Bang live event, which featured Eminem performing and announcing the launch of Lego Fortnite, racing and music modes.

Tonight's big battle against Doctor Doom was a little different than other in-game events in the past, making for a memorable – if mechanically straightforward – Fortnite Live experience.

At 7pm UK time this evening, players gathered to watch as Fortnite's heroes blocked the arrival of Doctor Doom, but the masked villain showed up anyway. As Doom advanced on the island, the event shifted to a rare in-game cutscene in which fan-favorite characters were wiped out and even mascot Jonesy found himself in danger – until this chapter's heroine, Hope, showed up and cracked America's mask along with Captain Doom Sign.

The event then moved into its main phase – a lengthy boss fight against a giant Doctor Doom with a sizable health bar that didn't look like it would be depleted any time soon. Instead, players discovered that defeating Doom would require multiple games, as the game's global community worked together to reduce his health rather than fighting each other.

Whether due to some live changes from Epic Games or a sudden increase in damage dealt, Doom's health bar seemed to drop more quickly over the course of the hour-long battle. After three or four games – Doom still raging, health bar slowly decreasing – damage to the armor he had forged from this chapter's Macguffin – Pandora's Box – was visible, and Hope's voice was heard again, signaling that the fight was over.

When Doom's health was finally exhausted, the heroes' plan succeeded: Doctor Doom was wiped from existence, dropping his shattered mask as he left the island – now a permanent reminder of the battle. (I had to laugh when I saw every player in my game rush over immediately after the fight and start hitting his mask with their pickaxes.)

As Fortnite events go, this was one of the most memorable in a while. Sure, it didn't have the same polished gameplay as Galactus Event or the narrative surprises of The Device. But after a slow return to live action this year, the brief cutscene provided a great, triumphant moment for Hope, whose storyline has been the focus this season, while the drawn-out nature of the fight gave a real sense of it being a fight acted against something really powerful. That it lasted just under an hour ultimately seemed right – long enough for players to share news of the event with friends and get others to join in, and not too long for them to run away and let other players join in on Dooms Health snooping around for you.

Fortnite is already giving a taste of what's next for the game – its annual Halloween celebration, Fortnitemares – and beyond that, well… Having already defeated Doom a month before this season's end date of November 2nd, players must think about what exactly will happen next. Fortnite has been changing its in-game maps every year for the past three years, and we're expected to be on the verge of another such change. But after the huge success of last year's OG season, now would certainly be a good time for Epic Games to introduce another one.