Spiderman 2002 Series: Peter Parker (INFP)

Note: This analysis is specific to Tobey Maguire’s iteration of Spiderman.  Other versions of Spiderman may type differently.

Fi:

“My name’s ‘The Human Spider.’ … No, he got my name wrong!”

“I’m so sorry, Harry. I know what it’s like to lose a father.”

“Believe me. I know. Spiderman gets attacked all the time…”

Tobey’s Maguire’s Spiderman is a very evident Fi dominant. He plays an obvious introvert, who’s both awkward and lives in his own head. Initially in the first movie, he’s prone to freezing when certain people speak to him, and failing to produce words in the moment. He’s also relatively open about being emotional. He tells MJ that he cried like a baby when she played Cinderella in school play which points to him being comfortable sharing his own emotions. Peter Parker also attempts to be generally encouraging and empathetic with others. However, beyond the general dichotomy based evidence, there is plenty of Fi specific evidence.

Peter Parker uses his own experiences and personal feelings to relate to others. This is shown quite clearly in the third movie when Mary Jane runs into acting trouble. He keeps relating her struggles back to things he went through as Spiderman, and tells her to just believe in herself and get back on the horse. Mary Jane gets frustrated with him, viewing it as him making the situation about himself instead of her. She sees him as failing to understand how she’s feeling, which ultimately does drive a spike into their relationship. That would be the negative tendency of an Fi user – accidentally putting too much of a focus on themselves when attempting to relate to someone else.

Peter Parker has a strong sense of right and wrong, along with his own personal values. Of course, as a superhero, there is a strong focus on the morality of Spiderman. He’s constantly trying to talk villains down, and tell them to do what’s right. At one point, he states that he must give up his own dreams in order to do what’s right. At another point, he refuses to accept help from Norman Osbourne, essentially stating that he wants to earn a job himself rather than accept handouts. He also feels the need to defend Spiderman’s reputation as Peter Parker. He struggles to hear anyone saying negative things about his alter ego, a prime example being when the newspaper’s chief editor suggests that Spiderman may be a villain. Parker instantly gets triggered, calling it slander.

Lastly, a very Fi moment happens right near the beginning of the first movie when he goes to his first wrestling match as ‘The Human Spider’. The announcer gets his name wrong, which frustrates Parker, causing him to try to stop and correct the error. This displays the identity driven nature of Fi, seeing the name as very important. It also demonstrates a bit of his Si as well, but that’ll be discussed later.

Ne:

“Let mom and dad talk for a minute, will you?”

“The great thing about MJ is when you look in her eyes and she’s looking back in yours, everything feels not quite normal. Because you feel stronger and weaker at the same time. You feel excited and at the same time, terrified. The truth is you don’t know what you feel except you know what kind of man you want to be. It’s as if you’ve reached the unreachable and you weren’t ready for it.”

Peter Parker lives in his own head, and struggles to act in the moment. This is shown time and time again early in the first movie, being especially exaggerated by his overall awkward nature in high school. (Not saying that other types can’t be awkward.) Of course, he gets better about this over time, in addition to learning fighting skills as Spiderman, which is not indicative of him having Se. In a sense, he imagines a relationship with Mary Jane from the time he is young, never having the courage to initiate any kind of real life friendship, in spite of not only going to the same school as her but also being next door neighbors. (Essentially, he is content to keep it all in his head.) Peter is also shown rehearsing conversations out loud that he intends to have (especially with Mary Jane), but the subsequent delay caused by rehearsing them results in missed opportunities. That tendency to verbalize his ideas out loud (IE: future conversations) is an Ne tendency.

Peter Parker is very introverted, so he doesn’t verbalize Ne possibilities much. However, an example of his Ne usage can be seen when he’s coming up with costume possibilities. He’s shown sketching out several different options before finally settling on the final one. On the other hand, he does appear to have a variety of interests, which is indicated by the broad range of information that he seems to know. (Anything from facts about spiders, to how acoustics and sound waves work.) Of course, this also ties into his tertiary Si. Peter also is prone to verbalizing more dramatic or poetical statements, like when (on the spot) coming up with what Spiderman supposedly said to him about Mary Jane.

Si:

“Some spiders change colors to blend into their environment. It’s a defense mechanism.”

“Let me buy you a cheeseburger. The sky’s the limit, up to $7.84.”

Peter Parker’s tertiary Si comes out in large part in the random information that he likes to share with others, unprompted. An obvious example is seen when he tells Harry about a specific tendency spider’s have. Of course, Harry asks why he’d ever want to know that, but then turns around and uses the information to connect with Mary Jane. There are other instances where Peter shares overly detailed information as well, like when explaining to Mary Jane in the third movie how the acoustics of the room would have made it possible for her to be heard in spite of her concerns about having sung too quietly.

Peter is also concerned with specificity. He labels all of his sketches when coming up with costume possibilities. He also produces the exact amount of money that he had on hand (down to the cent) when asking Mary Jane if he could buy her a cheeseburger. And, as mentioned in the Fi section, he gets hung up on the incorrect announcement of his name, having to be nearly forced into the arena because he kept trying to stop to correct the announcer.

Te:

Peter’s inferior Te comes out the strongest in the third movie. Before that point, the easiest thing to point out would be moments where he is essentially enforcing his Fi values via Spiderman. However, in the third movie, when his ‘dark side’ comes out, he becomes unusually demanding. For instance, he gains the boldness to demand a staff job at the Daily Bugle with double the pay. He also tells his landlord’s daughter to make him more cookies, taking complete advantage of her generosity. (He also gets very specific with it, wanting the ones with nuts, which is another showing of his Si.) Peter also gets unnaturally harsh, between yelling at MJ when she comes to check on him and accidentally hitting her at the jazz club. Lastly, he coldly executes judgement on Sandman once learning that Sandman is the one actually responsible for his uncle’s death.