One Piece fans are convinced Marvel Rivals' Reed Richards is "100% Luffy inspired"

One Piece fans have always been quite vocal online and recently got involved in a discussion with Marvel Rivals fans because of the recent display of Reed Richards' design. The leader of the Fantastic Four is depicted using his elasticity powers that look quite similar to Monkey D. Luffy's Gear 4 transformation.

These two characters have always been compared because their abilities are quite similar, to the point that One Piece fans are now claiming that the Marvel Rivals video game could have taken some pointers from Luffy's powers. That has led to some discussions between the two communities, with a lot of people also stating that Reed Richards is not copying the leader of the Straw Hats.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and the people quoted, not Sportskeeda.

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One Piece fans claim that Marvel Rivals was inspired by Luffy's Gear 4 for Reed Richards' design

An X user named @cmetznerdotcom mentioned how the popular video game, Marvel Rivals, could have taken a page from Luffy's Gear 4 transformation for the design of Reed Richards. Reed is seen using his elasticity powers to take a shape that looks similar to Gear 4, which led to a lot of discussions from the community of both franchises.

Luffy's rubber Devil Fruit powers and Reed Richards' elasticity have been compared for a long time in the manga and comic book communities. While Reed's character is a lot older, having started in the pages of the Fantastic Four during the 60s in Marvel Comics, the leader of the Straw Hats has also become quite prominent in his own right.

It is likely that NetEase Games, the Chinese developer of the game, could have been inspired by Luffy's abilities as a small nod to the anime and manga community. However, there is no confirmation of that and people can only make assumptions at the moment.

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Reactions online

There were also some discussions regarding the way both characters use their powers, with Luffy being more oriented toward brute force while Reed Richards is a lot more focused on intelligence and strategy. However, the leader of the Fantastic Four has been known for taking a lot of different shapes and forms with his elasticity powers, although that is up for people's interpretations.

Some fans pointed out how Reed used similar forms during some comic book runs in the 1980s and 2010s, although, as mentioned earlier, there is no confirmation from any official source. Marvel Rivals could be using One Piece as an inspiration, though, especially considering that could help in terms of marketing and exposure on social media.

"He has done mass expansion and mitosis where he expanded limitlessly before. But luffy definitely did it first/more infamously rubber hose style and this was definitely more luffy inspired. Reed is more science forward than brute force," someone said.

"LUFFY IS THE ONE THAT GETS INSPIRATION FROM THEM: Plastic man: 1941 Elongated man: 1960 Mr. Fantastic: 1961 Luffy: 1997," another person said.

"I actually actively dislike One Piece, but the comments make something clear. Mr. fantastic has NEVER done this before. Generally inflating or tying himself into a ball don't count, this is so specific, and identical to Luffy's style," someone else said.

Whether inspired by Luffy or not, the Marvel Rivals video game has proven to be quite popular, and Reed Richards is one of the several reasons for that success.

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