Because I am a self-aware nerd, I am a sucker for the kinds of tests that tell you about your personality, your leadership skills, and your strengths and weaknesses. So when I came to a new job in August, I took the Myers and Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test for the first time in forever.
When I got my designation of being an INFJ, I dug into my personality type and tried to learn everything I could. And as I dug in, I discovered that INFJs are the rarest of the 16 personality types, representing 2% of the population. (Basically, I’m a mutant! Where is that application for the Xavier Institute?)
Even more than just being rare, I dug into the characteristics of what makes an INFJ. Here is how the website 16 personalities describes the INFJ combination: “INFJs tend to see helping others as their purpose in life, but while people with this personality type can be found engaging rescue efforts and doing charity work, their real passion is to get to the heart of the issue so that people need not be rescued at all.”
Listen to some of the terms used to describe the INFJ people: The Advocate. The Protector.
As I kept reading and researching, I stumbled into this gem: a poster detailing the 16 different MBTI indicators and the Marvel Universe characters that correspond with it.
Of course, you have to look and see; among the list for me as an INFJ: Captain America. And it totally made sense to me.
Steve Rogers as Captain America has always been a character that I resonated with. For me, Steve Roger is the epitome of the hero, having chosen to become one against all odds to help others.
Part of what I love about Steve Rogers is that his background is completely unambiguous: he was fighting against what is truly one of the only evils the world agrees is, was and will always be: Nazis. (There needs to be a monument made to creators who never, ever tried to retcon Captain America’s origin to the Korean War or Vietnam or a middle east conflict.) And because of that, Steve Rogers had an aura of heroism that others can lose.
And he fits that definition of INFJ: always working to serve others but getting to the heart of the issue. Sure, Captain America could run around and rescue people from the bad of the world, but he also wants to get at the deeper issue, to remove the evil of the world.
When philosophical issues arise in comics, I tend to always side with Cap. When I was first starting comics, it was during the epic Mark Gruenewald era, a great run of Captain America that is marked at one point by Steve Rogers, after they attempted to have him answer to the Commission on Superhuman Activities, resigning the position of Captain America and becoming the independent US Agent. I cheered in my middle school heart to see Steve recognize that he served something larger.
In comic series Civil War, I sided with Captain America, even up to his ultimate surrender to trust the American people to do what is right. In the movie, I will side with Captain America again, as he chooses his friend Bucky over another governmental accord.
So, if you want an interesting experiment, take the MBTI and see what hero you relate the most to and if you match their personalities. As for me, Captain America and I are over here on Team INFJ.
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