MCU: Erik Killmonger (ESFP)

Se:

“Bro, why ain’t you just shoot him right here? “

“I don’t worry about no brand. Check these out. Each one is for a kill.”

“Weeks? I don’t need weeks. The whole country ain’t gotta be here. I just need him. And somebody to get me outta these chains.”

Erik Killmonger appears to be good at improvising and acting in the moment. He appears to prefer action over having a complex plan, and takes steps as needed to ensure his goal is obtained in the end. After stealing Klaue out from under T’Challa, Erik boldly enters Wakanda with the dead body as his entry ticket. He doesn’t even bother to change clothes to potentially hide that he is the one who had stolen Klaue out from under the Black Panther. This is a risky move as there is no guarantee that he would be received well by the people of Wakanda. For instance, he could have ended up straight in jail, never even being allowed to speak to King T’Challa face to face. Furthermore, T’Challa (had he been less honorable) could have easily refused to accept his challenge.

Granted, the movie, Black Panther, is a bit ambiguous as to what information Eric actually had been able to obtain from the book that his father had owned. However, throughout the movie, his plans as a whole, give off the appearance of not being well thought out. He intends to arm people all over the world, which would more than likely lead to mass anarchy with no guarantee that they would later fall in line under him. We’re specifically calling all of this out due to the theory that Erik is an ENTJ. A Te dominant would ultimately want to not only obtain control, but maintain it in the long run as well. The more chaotic and spontaneous nature of Erik’s plans run contrary to this, even though he does have a long term goal that he has been successfully working toward. (Although as alluded to earlier, luck plays a huge factor in his success).

As for other potential Se evidence, during his initial debut in the movie, Erik goes in ahead of the rest of the team and speaks to the museum curator up until she collapses from her poisoned coffee. This could suggest the more hands-on approach that Se users tend to take, wanting to be in the middle of the action as it’s happening. He’s also shown questioning why Klaue pretended to let someone go and then shot the man while he was running away instead of shooting him right away. This could point to Erik possessing an Se dominant’s natural tendency of wanting to act immediately. He also institutes radical change the moment he gains control of Wakanda, which suggests a high extraverted perceiver (Se, in his case).

Fi:

“The world took everything away from me. Everything that I loved. But I’mma make sure we’re even.”

“I’m standing in your house, serving justice to a man who stole your vibranium and murdered your people.”

Erik’s Fi is probably one of his most obvious functions, because he spends the entire movie vocalizing his Fi values, since they are the driving force behind his actions. Erik is angry at the injustice done to him as a child. He also feels anger toward injustices done to others who suffered similarly to him all around the world. Relating to others in this way points to Fi. He lectures others on the wrongs that have been done to him, using them as a justification for his actions. This is shown during his brief interaction with the museum curator, and when he’s first placed in front of T’Challa and the Wakandan leaders. He tries to make them feel guilty for their comfortable state of life when they should be doing more for those who are less fortunate. These are all obvious displays of Fi’s tendency toward activism and vocalizing their inner ideals.

Erik also attempts to gain sympathy for his actions, and desires for others to feel what he has felt. When he first faces the Wakandan leaders, in addition to preaching his ideals, he brings up his personal story of finding his father dead with panther claws in his chest. He then proceeds to proclaim that T’Challa is the son of a murderer, not a king. Also, once beaten by T’Challa and dying, he attempts to connect with T’Challa more emotionally by explaining that his father was going to show him Wakanda one day, and that he had been told that it was the most beautiful place in the world. He later refuses to allow T’Challa to heal him on principle (Fi) and because he doesn’t want his freedom taken away (Se).

Of course, it may be worth pointing out that Erik allows his selfish Fi motivation for revenge to ultimately cloud and eclipse his Fi morals. In the end, his Fi ideals appear to have been a cover or justification for his desire for revenge, but this does not change the fact that he is a high Fi user, since another type would be less likely to feel the need to justify their actions with Fi in that way.

Te:

“I want the throne.”

Erik is a very determined individual, who spends his entire life working toward one goal. This obviously takes a lot of discipline. His speech is very direct and straightforward, especially when he’s making demands. He has no problem issuing orders to the Wakandans from the moment he arrives. He gets excessively angry when not obeyed immediately. When someone questions his desire to destroy the Heart-Shaped Herb, he instantly grabs her by the throat and begins choking her. This action demonstrates both Se and Te. (Se impulse/physical action, Te demanding/taking control). His desire as a whole for both action and destruction appears to be the result of a Se-Te combination.

Erik also falls prey to his tertiary Te desire to accomplish his goal, and allows it to eclipse his Fi morals, as mentioned in the Fi section. During his fight with T’Challa, he is shown listing off his accomplishments and actions up to that point, which tends to be a way Te users measure themselves… by external accomplishments. Among these accomplishments are things that he should have been morally adverse to. When he claims to have used his enemies’ methods against them, T’Challa points out that Erik had become them.

Ni:

“I lived my entire life waiting for this moment.”

As per usual, one’s inferior function goes hand in hand with their dominant function. Erik’s inferior Ni is shown forth in his lack of a complex, or well-thought out plan. High Ni is more cautious, gathering information prior to action. Inferior Ni throws caution to the wind, and launches into action, sometimes before it’s ready, failing to give adequate thought to the future. Erik is shown displaying this tendency. While he did manage to take over as King of Wakanda, his leadership is ultimately extremely short-lived. He is shown making more impulse style decisions, and dealing with things immediately as they come. He destroys all of the Heart-Shaped Herbs, ensuring that he would be the last Black Panther. Of course, this means he was giving no thought to an heir, or perhaps needing the plant sometime down the line.

Lastly, there were a couple of ways in which Ni showed up in his personality in a more generic fashion. First, he proclaims that Black Panther is supposed to lead Wakanda into the future. Second, when T’Challa says that his primary concern is his own people, Erik tries to overly generalize by claiming that all people are T’Challa’s people since all their ancestors originally came from the African continent.