Sunday 26 February 2017

MBTI: Lee and Kirby's Fantastic Four Part One: 1961-1965



Here I'll be typing characters from the Fantastic Four who haven't been typed (to my knowledge) but should have been. I'll be doing it in order of their appearance. Some characters have been typed by Taylor, so I won't be repeating his work here.

My methodology for typing superheroes uses visual cues of a character, among other things, to determine a character's introversion or extraversion, and a character's powers and abilities to determine if he is a Sensor or Intuitive. See here.

It's interesting to note that, when surveying all the character types of the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee period (1961-1970), most of them come from what Socionics calls the Gamma Quadra (that is, ENTJs, INTJs, ESFPs, ISFPs). Members of a Quadra share the same valued functions - that is, functions that a type likes and prefers to use. In MBTI, these functions are known as Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and Inferior functions. In the case of the Gamma Quadra, the valued functions are identified as: Te (extraverted Thinking), Ni (introverted Intuition), Se (extraverted Sensing) and Fi (introverted Feeling). Gamma Quadra characters who favour these functions - especially Te and Ni, which are the primary and secondary functions of the xNTJs (INTJs and ENTJs) - appear the most in Kirby and Lee. Taylor makes a similar point regarding xNTJs in popular culture in general: 'NTJs Are Always Villains'.

All of the characters below reappeared in future Marvel stories - even the four Skrulls in Fantastic Four #2, who showed up again in the Avengers' famous Kree-Skrull War arc.

1961

Mole Man - INTJ



The first villain the FF encounters, the misanthropic Mole Man dwells in the darkness (literally) and plots revenge against humanity. No argument here: a typical INTJ. Introverted Intuition Ni, the Mole Man's dominant function, gives him the gift of forecasting and planning, whereas his secondary function Te allows him to command his vast underground empire of Subterraneans and others monsters. A sort of comic book version of Walter White (Breaking Bad) or Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars) but even more misanthropic than either of those two, if that's possible.

1962

Skrulls - ISFJ




Here I am not referring to the entire Skrull race but to the four Skrulls who appeared in the legendary Fantastic Four #2. I found these a hard bunch to type. At first sight, one would think that they are Intuitives - shape-shifting as a superpower belongs on the Intuitive side of the ledger. But here we are presented with an example of a superpower not relating to a supervillain's personality type. We only get to know and understand the Skrulls in the last page of the story. The goblin-like Skrulls look cringing and obsequious when Mr Fantastic implies that he'll get rid of the Skrulls by killing them. They promise to mend their ways and live amongst humans in peace for the rest of their days; one of them declares, 'We hate being Skrulls! We'd rather be anything else!'. Mr Fantastic offers to hypnotise them to make them forget their identities. One Skrull asks, 'Will we have a peaceful existence?', another, 'Promise we'll be contented!'. In the last panel, we see that the Skrulls have been hypnotised into thinking that they are cows: Stan Lee narrates, 'And so it comes to pass that the three captive Skrulls become the most contented creatures on Earth - as they grazed peacefully out in the pasture...'. Fictional ISFJs often cringe and prostrate themselves before authority, and ISFJs in real life can (and I know this from experience) display a streak of self-hatred. In addition, being introverted Sensing (Si) dominant, they prize harmony, comfort and contentment above all and see these as essential to true fulfilment.

Miracle Man - ENTP




A showman (Extravert), an illusionist and hypnotist (Intuitive), a cunning, calculating, rational type (Thinker): this gives us the letters ENTx. Is Miracle Man an ENTP or ENTJ? Obviously an ENTP: the ENTJ villain more often than not wants to rule the world, whereas the ENTP wants to shock it. Miracle Man sees defeating the Fantastic Four as a game of one-upmanship, and the transgressiveness of it - besting a well-loved bunch of heroes - appeals to him as it does to all ENTP villains.

Namor the Sub-Mariner - ENTJ



Another Extravert, and this time a ruler of men - definitely a Thinker, and an extraverted Thinker (Te) at that. The Sub-Mariner, who in his first appearance in the FF appears to be a skinny and gangly fellow, doesn't seem to be a Sensor at first sight (although he does possess super-strength). His abilities seem to lie in the Intuitive area: charisma and leadership, and also long-range planning and forecasting (introverted Intuition Ni). This combined with his impulsiveness and temperamental character makes him an ENTJ: this type, in my experience, tends to leap into action and throw themselves into it without holding anything back and without debating the rights or wrongs of it. That describes Namor...

Doctor Doom - INTJ




See here.

Kurrgo, Master of Planet X - ENTJ




Another scrawny character, Kurrgo displays strong planning and forecasting from the outset (Ni Intuitive) and rules an entire world (Extraverted Thinker Te), Kurrgo kidnaps the Fantastic Four so as to force them to save his planet from being destroyed by a collision with a runaway asteroid. The Fantastic Four save the planet, but Kurrgo's lust for power proves to be his undoing. (He does survive and appear in future stories, however).

Puppet Master - INTJ




Not a strongman or brawler, the Puppet Master can control others through the puppets he makes (which are sculpted out of radioactive clay from Wundagore Mountain). The creepy and withdrawn Puppet Master loves to manipulate others, and supervillain INTJs are distinguished by their quasi-sadistic desire to control - see Taylor here. I regard the Puppet Master as the INTJ's INTJ (the evil INTJ's INTJ, that is).

Alicia Masters - ISFJ



The gentle, idealistic blind sculptress Alicia Masters seems a tactile character - she can 'read' a person by running her hands over their faces. This makes her a Sensor... She definitely marks herself out as a Feeler and a Feeler who is concerned with the welfare of others around her - particularly her uncle, the Puppet Master. She believes, at first, that the Puppet Master is a good guy. ISFJ characters tend to believe the best of people close to them, and put them on a pedestal until (as in the case with Alicia) events cruelly disabuse them of their idealistic notions.

1963

Impossible Man - ENFP



Another scrawny character (Intuitive) who can shapeshift into anything he can imagine (and he has a wild imagination - extraverted Intuition Ne), a manic attention-seeker and narcissist (Extravert), a petulant, somewhat childish character (introverted Feeling Fi) - I type the Impossible Man as an ENFP. I think of ENFPs as chameleons: they tend to take on the colours of their environment and become whoever they are talking to at the time - hence their ability to get along with seemingly everybody they meet. In creating the Impossible Man, Kirby Lee use that chameleonic quality of the ENFP  and turn it into a superpower. They also make him extremely high-energy - manic, in fact - and somewhat annoying; ENFPs can be like this. The Impossible Man reminds me of a superpowered Jerry Lewis.

Hate-Monger - ENFJ



Another instance of a supervillian created for the purposes of political propaganda, Stan Lee deployed the Hate-Monger so as to sound off against bigotry, intolerance, etc., in true sixties-liberal style. (Given the current climate in America - and the fact that the comic book industry is at present highly politicised - we may see a revival of the Hate-Monger in the future). Evidently an Intuitive - no super-strong brawler is he - the Hate-Monger has the ability to whip up crowds into frenzies and turn them into destructive mobs; he does this through persuasive rhetoric and his 'hate ray' super-weapon which changes peoples' emotional state. The Hate-Monger sounds like a manipulative INTJ, but INTJs are Introverts (and Thinkers), shie away from crowds and don't get carried away by their feelings much. Hate-Monger presents himself as both an Extravert and a Feeler, and I would argue that he is an Fe (extraverted Feeling) dominant. Fe dominant characters, especially supervillain ones, live in a super-charged emotional atmosphere which can lead to the disappearance of all restraint: in other words, they are Dionysian. Just like his real-life historical counterpart, Hate-Monger should be typed as an ENFJ.

Red Ghost - ESTJ



A balding, long-haired villain who can make himself intangible - the Red Ghost resembles the DC villain The Mist. At first, he seems like an Intuitive, not a Sensor. But in order to work out the Red Ghost's type, we need to look at the characteristics he displayed before he got his powers (which, like the Fantastic Four's, came from cosmic radiation). He seems like a hard-nosed, calculating extraverted Thinking (Te) type who doesn't have any of the traits of an Intuitive - Sensors tend to live in the here and now, not in the past or future. What's more, he bullies his superpowered apes and seems like a drill sergeant. I type him as an ESTJ.

The Watcher - INFJ



The cosmic-powered alien Uatu the Watcher lives in the blue area of the moon and is sworn never to interfere in the lives of other races. He observes, but does not act. For a time, he narrated the Marvel imaginary-story series What If?, which depicted alternate realities in the Marvel universe and paths not taken. Despite his detachment - and obvious introversion - the Watcher does interfere, and quite often, in human affairs, and helps save the planet from cosmically-powered supervillains Galactus, the Molecule Man and others. Introverted Intuition Ni gives the INFJ the ability to perceive alternate possibilities in the future which flow, naturally from happenings in the past; extraverted Feeling Fe makes the INFJ pay attention to the collective well-being and the harmony of the group.

The Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android - INTJ and ISTJ





The Mad Thinker (or the Thinker, as he prefers to be known) designs killer super-androids but is more renowned for his ability to predict the future. Like all INTJ supervillains, he plots, plans, forecasts before acting and always uses dark, enclosed spaces for hideouts which always seem to be located somewhere underground in New York city. In addition, like a true INTJ bad guy, he wants to rule the world (extraverted Thinking Te showing here). The Mad Thinker's creation the Awesome Android - a mute, obedient servitor - seems to be a loyal, subservient and utterly relentless ISTJ, like most of Mad Thinker's robots.

Super-Skrull - ESTJ



The Super-Skrull first appears as a sort of Skrull version of Captain America. The Skrull Empire's ruler, through genetic engineering, gives the Super-Skrull the powers of the Fantastic Four. Like the Red Ghost, he aspires to be a loyal servant of his nation-state, and, in one of his first acts on Earth, he claims the planet for the Skrulls and plants the Skrull flag in the Manhattan sidewalk. After delivering a speech to the astonished onlookers, he orders them to 'return to your everyday tasks'. Pure Te (extraverted Thinking) here. The enormous physically powerful Super-Skrull comes across more as a Sensor than an Intuitive (although he wields at least one power used by Intuitives - super-hypnotism). That and his lack of Ni (introverted Intuition) makes him more of an ESTJ than an ENTJ.

Rama Tut - ENTJ



An time-travelling adventurer bored with life in the prosperous, stable and dull year 3000 travels back in time to ancient Egypt and uses his super-technology to dominate the natives and crown himself Pharaoh. Clearly a Te (extraverted Thinking) dominant, his reliance on his wits, his charisma and his super-technology shows him to be an Intuitive, not a Sensor.

Molecule Man - ENTJ



A frustrated and misanthropic non-entity who works in a nuclear plant, a freak accident gives the Molecule Man the power to control all matter. While this character became a nebbish, shy and retiring type in the 1980s (during the Secret Wars years), in his first appearance he is portrayed as extraverted and dominating. At one point he levitates the Baxter Building and threatens to drop it on the crowd below unless they obey his orders, and he also holds Manhattan hostage by creating a giant, impenetrable force-field around it. Another Te (extraverted Feeling) dominant type and an Intuitive.

1964

Infant Terrible - INFP




One of the stranger characters in the series, the childlike Infant Terrible comes from another planet and wields vast, cosmic-level power (at the end of the story, he nearly uses his mental powers to move the Sun and thus destroy all the planets in the solar system). But all he wants to do is to be left alone so he can eat candy and play with toys. An Introvert, his face resembles a mask or a helmet, and I argue that he is an introverted Feeler. Fi (introverted Feeling) types experience strong emotional reactions which are not shared feelings and value-judgements, i.e., the feelings and value-judgements of others. At their worst, they can come across as petulant and childlike. Most INFP characters have parents who are missing from their lives and who play a big role in the INFP's backstory: think of Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Scarlet Witch (Avengers), Nightcrawler (X-Men), Scott Free (Mr Miracle)... At the end of the Infant Terrible's first appearance, his parents show up in time to take him back to his home planet before he causes any further destruction.

Diablo - ENTP



The moustachioed and nattily-dressed conman Diablo seems Mephistophelean, and I argue that the figure of Lucifer, the rebellious fallen angel, is an ENTP. Diablo uses potions and chemical formulas which have amazing effects. After being revived from suspended animation by the Thing, Diablo rewards him by plying him with a potion that turns the Thing human - or at least semi-human. The grateful Thing, in exchange, leaves the Fantastic Four to work for Diablo as a manservant and bodyguard. But, as it turns out, the quack Diablo peddles formulas and cures which are only temporary - or destructive. Like ESTPs, ENTPs use introverted Thinking Ti, and like ESTP conmen, ENTP conmen  use it to divine peoples' weakness and manipulate them. And like the Miracle Man, another ENTP, Diablo doesn't want to rule the world so much as impress it.

Attuma - ESTJ



A sword-wielding, super-strong barbarian who believes that, in fulfilment of an ancient prophecy, he will be the ruler of Atlantis, Attuma assembles a vast army and goes to war against the Sub-Mariner, putting the underwater city of Atlantis to a medieval siege. Attuma sounds like a Robert E. Howard character (Conan, perhaps), but unlike Conan, he is an extraverted Thinker, a brute and a bully. Extraverted Thinking Te dominates in both Namor and Attuma, but the former is an Intuitive, the latter a Sensor. We see in the eternal conflict of the two characters the difference between the ENTJ and the ESTJ.

1965

Gregory Gideon - ENTJ



Gregory Gideon should be considered to be the Platonic Ideal of the ENTJ villain - in the same way that the Puppet Master is the Platonic Ideal of the INTJ. A ruthless capitalist baron who is the wealthiest man in the world, Gideon undertakes the challenge of defeating the Fantastic Four after coming to a realisation that his attainment of great wealth and power has left him with no worlds left to conquer. A remarkably bullying and obnoxious Te-dominant - we don't know why his wife and son haven't left him - he avails himself of the forward planning of Ni to construct brilliant plan to destroy the Fantastic Four. He has a change of heart and becomes redeemed after nearly sending his son (and the Thing) thousands of years into the past, by accident, using a replica of Doctor Doom's time machine. He and his family's story doesn't end happily there, unfortunately; they end up flying a plane into a mushroom cloud during an atomic bomb test. But that's another tale for another time...

Dragon Man - ESFP



Can a character who is mute and an animal be typed? I argue yes. An android created by a scientist at Empire State University, he is brought to life by one of Diablo's potions and wreaks havoc. I type him as a Sensor, not as an Intuitive, an extraverted Sensor. Characters who are Se (extraverted Sensing) dominant display great physical strength, aggression, territoriality - just as Dragon Man does. At the same time, Dragon Man possesses a simple, childlike demeanour and is attracted, and feels protective of, women with bright and shiny beautiful hair (women such as Invisible Girl and Medusa). While he can't speak, he does make vocal noises - in one story he is said to 'whimper like a child'. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, he hardly comes across as a rational and calculating type - in other words, he is a Feeler, not a Thinker - and is easily manipulated and controlled by supervillain characters. In his character and temperament, he bears a strong resemblance to the Hulk, another ESFP.

Wizard - INTP



A former Human Torch foe (in the Torch's solo series in Strange Tales), the Wizard (or 'Wingless Wizard') founds the Frightful Four as a supervillain counterpart to the Fantastic Four and recruits other Human Torch villains Paste-Pot Pete (later known as the Trapster) and the Sandman (the Spiderman foe who put in a guest appearance in the Torch's title). A brilliant inventor who obviously serves as an evil analogue of Mr Fantastic, the Wizard specialises in anti-gravity technology. Mad scientist characters are more often than not inclined to be extraverted Intuitives - Ne gives the character a kind of zany creativity and artistic bent. As a Ti dominant, the Wizard excels in systems analysis - which enables him to design such incredible invention and his extraordinary ultra-modernist mansion (where we see him in his first appearance in Strange Tales) - but also comes across as aloof, solitary and emotionally distant (despite his surrounding himself with people). The combination of Ti and Ne lends him a nerdy, geeky and somehow unmasculine and prepossessing appearance; the INTP is the archetypal geek or nerd.

Madame Medusa - ESTJ



See here.

Sandman - ESFJ




The Sandman, as a member of the Frightful Four, appears as nearly as much in Fantastic Four as he does in Amazing Spiderman - in fact, probably more often. I regard the Sandman as a Feeler, to be sure, and a Sensor - and an Extravert - but why do I type Sandman as an ESFJ? Firstly, because he speaks, and looks a lot like, the Thing, who is an ESFJ. Gruff and outspoken, both the Thing and the Sandman bring a boisterous emotional atmosphere along with them wherever they go (extraverted Feeling Fe) and live in the here and the now, in the world of the senses (introverted Sensing Si). Where he an ESFP, he would be more showy and theatrical. What's more, introverted Feeling Fi - the secondary function of ESFPs - tends to withdraw itself from the world; extraverted Feeling Fe embraces it. The Sandman represents a dark and evil version of the ESFJ. The Thing has shown this dark side of the ESFJ - including a tendency to brutality and bullying - on occasion, usually when he is enraged or has been turned evil by one of the Wizard's brainwashing machines. He doesn't always come across as the most pleasant character. The Sandman presents us with an alternate-reality version of Ben Grimm and illuminates the path the Thing would have taken had his early life circumstances been different...

Trapster - ISTP



Another inventor, like the Wizard, and like the Wizard, the Trapster specialises - in super-adhesives which he fires from a glue-gun. The Trapster's main weapon resembles Spiderman's web-shooters, and like the Wizard, Spiderman and Mr Fantastic, the Trapster is skilled at invention. But, being terse, down to earth, and somewhat argumentative and aggressive, he seems much more of a Sensor than an Intuitive. In fact, he reminds us of Keirsey's portrait of the ISTP - the Mechanic, or Crafter - and in his downtime he is always shown fixing one of his weapons (usually his glue-gun). He lacks the zany creativity of the INTP type, and functions more as a mechanic or engineer than an inventor and a creator - he doesn't have the artistic sense of the Intuitive.

Inhumans - various

See here.

Mark Hootsen signing off.














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