MBTI: Black Widow- ISTP
As huge as The Avengers movies are and as long as the character has been around, I’ve never been able to bring myself to type the sultry redhead. INFJ or INTJ?
Ah, I’m just playing of course. Black Widow is one of those typings where no research is needed to dive into her character. Not that she’s not well written, but c’mon- a good looking spy, a bit untrustworthy, uses sex as a tool and her past is as mysterious as what they’re doing when they’re not in view. This is pretty much Bond in female form.
From brainwashed spy to Matt Murdock’s Fwends with Bennies to the Avengers, Natalia Alianovna “Natasha” Romanova has been everywhere. She does what needs to be done and morality is something that really doesn’t play a big part in her life. But for all the morally grey areas she’s found herself in over the years, it’s not until she gets a quiet moment to herself that the demons from her past begin creeping out of the closet.
Or out from under her bed, wink wink.
Sticking with the staple of the ISTP action character, Natasha has all the telltale signs. Ti (Introverted Thinking) is deconstructive in nature and helps to break down whatever situation is at hand. INTPs also lead with Ti but with Ne (Extroverted Intuition) as their auxiliary function. Meaning that they blow things up, examining the possibilities of what they’ve broken down.
ISTPs on the other hand, use Se (Extroverted Sensing) as their auxiliary function. You know what it is, we’ve been over it a hundred times and it’s also why I’ve held off on typing Widow for so long. Her character is solid all the way through and she’s an open-and-shut kind of case. Any typings past ISTP and we’re thinking about it too much. Se sees the situation for what it is and acts in the moment. It corresponds with their tertiary Ni (Introverted Intuition) to know what to do in that moment for the best possible outcome.
It’s for this reason that action characters tend to best fit the ISTP personality. Acting on impulse in a situation that requires improvisation.
The closest character she could be compared to may be Elektra, also an ISTP. But where Elektra will almost always choose the evil side of things, almost as if she herself isn’t making the choice, Widow’s current role is one that has her on the side of the ultimate team of super jocks, the Avengers; which means that all of her previous jobs are ones she feels a little sketchy about. When you work for the motherland the first half of your life, the side of the angels might make you feel a bit, uh…unclean.
You know, like when you get your rival’s blood all over you.
And it’s true that compared to her other team mates, Widow has seen a bit more of the cynical side of life. While Captain America always seems upbeat and ready to high-five a homey and Iron Man is a billionaire who can think his way out of anything, Widow’s talents are a little more lethal. And because of this, she’s been used by some bad people to do some bad things. ISTPs aren’t always going to have a past full of dead bodies (We hope) but their view on their own history will often be filled with a more bitterness than most.
SPs themselves tend to have this outlook on the past. In real life, it’s up to each person on why things are this way and it’s definitely not a trait set in stone. Though in fiction, SP characters will have a million and one reasons to be dodgy when it comes to explaining their previous lives. Go through the list of SP characters and you’re going to find, more often than not, that they all have a history that they’re ashamed of. Look at Wolverine. Look at The Bride. Look at JOFFREY.
It’s not like they all look at it with scorn or even necessarily see it as bad, they just see that as how things are. When it comes to ISTP, it could be that their routine suppression of negative emotions is what causes such a negative outlook on things that could otherwise be resolved. Talking through every single problem and soaking somebody’s shirt with salty eye juice isn’t necessarily the answer but a moral cleansing of some kind would do some good though your average ISTP is going to see that as being whiny, insecure, weak, etc.
What I’m saying is that if Natasha just talked about how messed up she feels that her former superiors implanted false memories into her, I think she would just lift a giant weight off her shoulders. Just because you thought you were a ballerina for years doesn’t meant you’re not one at heart.
Ah well. There’s only so much you can do. Enjoy that stomach cancer, Natasha!
Or maybe Onslaught will just kill everybody instead.
Zombies Ruin Everything 
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