Both the One Piece anime's return from hiatus and the theatrical debut of the latest Fantastic Four movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps are scheduled for later in 2025. After a hiatus lasting several months beginning towards the end of 2024, the One Piece anime is currently slated to return in April, while The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled to hit theaters in July. This, combined with Mr. Fantastic's appearance in the new hero shooter game Marvel Rivals offering a fresh take on the character can got the Anime Away team thinking on all the ways Mr. Fantastic and Luffy stack up against each other.
With that in mind, here's our look into the striking similarities and notable differences between Luffy and Mr. Fantastic, two of pop culture's most iconic stretching characters.
How are they similar?
The most obvious similarity between out two heroes is their basic superpower. Both Mr. Fantastic and Luffy share rubber-like stretching and flexibility powers to rival vintage action figure Stretch Armstrong (who incidentally, also has an animated adaptation). Our two heroes are instantly recognizable from their rubbery powers, both able to dish out and endure significant damage in combat. Luffy's powers come from the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit and Mr. Fantastic's come from exposure to cosmic radiation along with the rest of the Fantastic Four during a scientific expedition to space, although the exact details of the team's origins have changed over the years and in different adaptations of the story.
Luffy and Mr. Fantastic are both iconic characters, and a large part of that is that they are the leader and face of their respective teams. The Straw Hat Pirates use Luffy's own hat as their logo, while the connection between the name of the Fantastic Four and its leader really doesn't need much of an explanation.
Luffy and Mr. Fantastic have both starred in multimedia adaptations
An underrated connection shared by Luffy and Mr. Fantastic is that both heroes have stepped out of the pages of their original source material and into living color and full motion thanks to animated and live-action adaptations.
Although most famous as a manga and anime character, Luffy has been adapted to live-action as of 2023 thanks to the Netflix-produced adaptation. The live-action One Piece has quickly become the consensus pick for Netflix's best live-action adaptation of an anime or manga series.
Similarly, Mr. Fantastic and the rest of the Fantastic Four have been adapted to live-action several times: a 1994 version that was never officially released, the 2005 movie and its sequel from Fox, a 2015 attempt at a reboot that fell flat with both viewers and critics, appearances from alternate universe versions of Mr. Fantastic and the Human torch in MCU movies Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool & Wolverine, with the MCU's main versions of the characters set join the franchise later this year in First Steps, with Pedro Pascal playing Mr. Fantastic.
Heroes with notable differences
Despite the similarities between Luffy and Mr. Fantastic that range from superficial to subtle, the two heroes have several notable differences. Perhaps most significantly, Mr. Fantastic is consistently depicted as one of the smartest people in the Marvel universe, boasting a high-level genius intellect. Luffy, on the other hand … doesn't.
While Luffy isn' necessarily stupid — demonstrating some pretty clever tactics in battle and keen perception and insight — he can be rash and shortsighted and often charges straight at the enemy. In that way, he's a pretty standard example of the Shōnen-genre hero archetype in the vein of Goku or Naruto.
Mr. Fantastic, on the other hand, is often portrayed as laying out elaborate plans and strategies ahead of time, out-thinking and out-maneuvering his enemies — something that's probably a necessity given that his primary rival is a peerless evil genius like Dr. Doom. Notably, Mr. Fantastic has been a member of the Illuminati, a group composed of the Marvel universe's other genius characters like Dr. Strange, Iron Man and Professor Xavier.
Another major difference is how Luffy and Mr. Fantastic's powers and power levels are portrayed. While Mr. Fantastic's intelligence often leads him to using his powers in clever and novel ways, his powers have been pretty consistently portrayed as consistent. Luffy, conversely, has — in keeping with the Shōnen hero archetype — gotten progressively stronger and demonstrated new powers that have been both more effective in battle and more visually impressive, most notably the Super Saiyan-esque Gear 5, which basically weaponizes classic cartoon physics and logic:
Where to watch these heroes
Although the One Piece anime is currently on hiatus until April, in the meantime Toei is airing a re-cut version of the anime's first story arc, abridging the original 57 episodes down to a 21-episode run and featuring new opening and ending themes. This re-cut is titled One Piece Log: Fish-Man Island Saga, and is available to stream, along with every past episode of the anime series on Crunchyroll.
One Piece is also streaming on Netflix, which also streams the live-action adaptation. A second season of the live-adaptation is in production but a release date has not yet been announced. An anime remake titled The One Piece is also in development at Netflix.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is currently scheduled for theatrical release on July 25, 2025. In the meantime, fans can stream multiple previous Fantastic Four adaptations — including the 2005 movie, its sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer, the 2015 reboot, and the cartoon series from the early 1990s — on Disney Plus.
As always, stay tuned to Anime Away for all the latest anime news, reviews, and features.