Zombies Ruin Everything

Long overdue, aren’t we? Having typed the others, and Arkham Origins having just been released, it was time to give Batman his due. “The World’s Greatest Detective” is fairly obvious in his type yet people will argue anything won’t they? INFJ? Batman? Extroverted Feeling second? Psh. This guy’s M.O. is beating information out of people and putting them in prison.

While his character is a tad unrealistic given his wide range of perfected skills, he still fits the profile of “master planner” to the fictional tee. Oh, so much to cover.

I just want to go over this real quick, just so we’re all on the same page-

• Indomitable Will
• Intimidation
• Expert Inquisitor
• Peak Human Conditioning
• Peak Human Strength
• Peak Human Reflexes
• Peak Human Speed
• Peak Human Endurance
• Peak Human Agility
• Expert Acrobat
• Master Martial Artist
• Weapon Master
• Master of Stealth
• Expert Marksman
• Genius Intellect
• Polymath
• Master Detective
• Multilingual
• Master Strategist
• Escapologist
• Crack Pilot
• Expert Tracker
• Master of Disguise
• Expert Mechanic and Driver
• Peak Human Strength
  

That’s from the Batman Wiki page and one of those things is enough to take up a person’s life and make a career out of- yet Batman is a master of them all. It could be the Mastermind title and Batman’s type alone that give an INTJ just the push they need to gain a superiority complex. Many of the above mentioned that he received degrees in were by the time he was twenty-five. Oy.

Pretty sure this was done out of jealousy.

Batman’s first function of Introverted Intuition makes sense possibly more than any other character. From the time Master Wayne was sick of it all- the memories of his parent’s death, the crime in the city, the depressing feeling of it never ending- the plan was set in motion. With varying origins, all keeping the same principle: Bruce Wayne decides to dedicate every waking moment of his life ending all the corruption that Gotham had become.

Some re-tellings, like Year One and the Nolan films have him traveling the world and learning everything he does from multiple sources, all with the same intention of going back to Gotham to fight the power; the evil power. While Batman’s story is hugely fantastical, his way of doing things isn’t far off from the INTJ way of thinking- Plan, plan, plan, plan- execute with extreme precision. Get out of their way, listen to them or leave, don’t try to change things, it’s their or no way.

Jeez kid, take a hint!

There’s only a couple things Batman is criticized for in his own comic and one of them is his lack of people skills. One could argue that he’s that way as an intimidation tactic but it’s just as easily his understanding of things better than people.

He understands his gadgets and cars, his enemies’ line of thought and how society expects him to act to maintain cover, but an actual understanding of people themselves is a book missing from the INTJ library. It’s mentioned that his pupils, Red Robin and Nightwing, have both surpassed Batman in terms of leadership ability, but not much else. The idea being- Batman ain’t good with people.

POW!

THOOM!

ZOCKO!

INTJs are also strong users of Te, and if there’s a character that’s shown that more than any other, it’s Batman. If you’re not saying something of importance in that moment, just stop talking. It can be difficult to read an INTJ, even as blunt as they can be, because like the other TJ types, they say what they want done rather than in a way that will get the best response. They don’t necessarily mean to come off as rude, but as far as they see it, you asked them a question, they will give you the type of answer they see as the best- cold, blunt, to the point.

Often times, saying anything past a one word answer with a very brief description is seen as a waste of time. Anything other than the absolutes basics is beating around the bush. It’s this attitude that gets Batman labeled as a jerk, and it’s easy to see why he could even be mistaken for a villain. He’s one of the very few heroes to have the INTJ personality and not be a cackling super villain sitting in his throne. Cackling just ain’t his style.

Unless Miller is writing him, of course.

One of the most independent of all types, it’s no wonder Batman prefers to work alone and handle things his own way. Perhaps his biggest contribution to the DC universe aside from his own work as the Dark Knight are the INTJ seeds he’s planted throughout his run; training various superheroes that have since become superheroes in their own rite, founding the Outsiders, the number of ways he’s figured out how to defeat villains that members of the Justice League weren’t smart enough to; his countless back-up plans he’s created to defeat any character in the DCU- the list goes on.

A big difference it seems with the Nolan Batman character and the rest of his incarnations is his ability to plan. The Nolan Batman very much seems to run off of Si than Ni making him an ISTJ. When Bruce’s parents were killed, his world was torn apart much like other versions of the character, yet he lost his identity totally until Ra’s Al Ghul found him.

“You’re…such a…d-bag…”

From there, he eventually created Batman with ideas he’d formed from Ra’s teachings, and keeping his dad’s idealism on humanity. In the comics/etc., he seems to have everything done between him and Alfred while the movies show him having several factions at work to help him get the job done. Nolan’s Batman is a bit more grounded in reality while the comic’s origins keep a more centralized view of the character- it’s him and him alone.

One reason it could be cited that Batman and the Joker make such a good rivalry is their reversed functions that create the “two sides of the same coin” relationship. One personality is always seeing the opposite of the same problem but they are focusing on the same problem. In Batman and Joker’s case, there are many issues focused on- Right/wrong, law/chaos, rational/insane- you get the idea.

Best bros

This is often the case of a good rivalry in that the hero and villain are twisted versions of each other. Much is covered in the video below, pretty interesting stuff.

This entry was posted on 10/28/2013 at 12:55 am and is filed under MBTI Rationals, MBTI Stuff with tags batman, intj, mastermind, mbti in fiction, tumblr. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.