If you want your franchise to be as magnetic as possible, you’d be remiss to underestimate the power of the pop culture horoscope. You won’t find a Potterhead that hasn’t mused on which Hogwarts House they belong to, and every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles die-hard sees themself in at least one of the four eponymous brothers. Indeed, that extra touch of personability can go a long way in strengthening your fanbase.
Speaking of strengthening fanbases, Netflix’s live-action One Piece adaptation just brought in a whole new wave of devotees to the beloved franchise, and while we’ve merely scratched the surface of this iteration of Luffy and his crew in the eight episodes we’ve been given thus far, newcomers have spent more than enough time with the Straw Hats to reasonably latch on to a personality or two.
And if there’s anything more fun than falling under a pop culture umbrella, it’s thinking about which fictional characters might share that umbrella not only with you, but with mainstays from other, perhaps zeitgeist-defining franchises. So, for those of you out there who devour equal amounts of Marvel movies, anime, manga, and their respective live-action adaptations, this list is for you.
Luffy – Kamala Khan (aka Ms. Marvel)
Very few characters could ever fully capture the essence of the happy-go-lucky captain of the Straw Hats, given Luffy’s inimitable, seemingly oblivious optimism that hides a unique devotion to the human spirit that even the most good-faith gurus would be jealous of.
But Kamala Khan – who looks to be the glue that will hold the Marvels protagonists together, much in the same way that Luffy binds his band of quirky misfits the way he does – makes quite the case. Indeed, the two young heroes share a lot of overlap thanks to their infectious optimism, tenacity, and dreams of acclimation (King of the Pirates for Luffy, Avengers membership for Ms. Marvel). It helps that they both boast a powerset that involve extending their limbs, but focusing on that would have been too easy.
Zoro – Bucky Barnes (aka the Winter Soldier)
Roronoa Zoro – Luffy’s first mate and wickedly efficient killer – would most likely find his Marvel kindred spirit in Bucky Barnes – Captain America’s closest friend and wickedly efficient killer – given that the two warriors each boast a cold, stoic front that’s seemingly only ever betrayed by the fact that they would move Heaven and Earth for their respective captains.
Admittedly, it took Zoro much longer to pledge his loyalties to Luffy than it took for the Winter Soldier to warm up to Captain America, and that’s just one of the many interpersonal nuances that complicate this comparison, but it was the closest we could get, and it’s still pretty darn close; after all, you can’t convince us that Bucky isn’t always packing at least three firearms at any given time.
Nami – Gamora
Yeah, yeah; they’re both leading women, they both fight with a melee weapon, and they both chiefly operate on a ship of some kind, but that’s not why we’ve marked Gamora as Nami’s MCU equivalent.
Think about it; how many fictional female characters have had their homes decimated and their parents slaughtered by a purple-skinned tyrant, effectively leaving them no choice but to fall in with said tyrant and serve under them from childhood to adulthood, during which they effectively establish themselves as a villain in their own right, only to eventually switch sides once again and fight for the good guys at the end of the day? I’ll give you a hint; there’s more than one answer.
Usopp – Loki
Usopp may not be a god, but he would certainly give it his all to performatively fib his way into making you believe he was. And, ironically, there’s a certain god in the MCU who also has a surplus of lies stowed in their toolbox.
This one is perhaps the biggest stretch of the bunch, but Loki and Usopp still swim in a surprising number of the same circles, be it a penchant for falsehoods, the color green, and preferring trickery and traps over direct confrontation. Indeed, we reckon Loki would have been proud of the young marksman for what he managed to pull off against Chu, and seeing the god of mischief confront Thanos the way he did would have instantly captured Usopp’s respect, even if the outcome was less than ideal.
Sanji – Daredevil
Last but not least we have Sanji, the kick-happy cook of the Straw Hats, resident womanizer, and heeder of the chef’s equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath. With all that considered, there’s only one MCU character that could possibly be cut from the same cloth.
Daredevil is perhaps the closest to Sanji that the franchise’s many capes and crusaders can offer; beyond a unique affinity for martial combat, the two of them share a relatively charming ladies-man ethos (in their live-action iterations, anyway). Moreover, the Man Without Fear daylights as a lawyer, and you don’t take on a job like that unless your devotion to helping others knows few boundaries, much like how Sanji will always dutifully feed a hungry soul no matter the circumstances.
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Khushi Patel is a science fiction author who lives in Austin, Texas. She has published three novels, and her work has been praised for its originality and imagination. Khushi is a graduate of Rice University, and she has worked as a software engineer. She is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and her books have been nominated for several awards.
