Dark Knight Trilogy: Bruce Wayne [Batman] (ISTJ)

 

Si:

“Should I just bury the past out there with my parents?”

“But it’s nothing without the people who made it what it was.”

Most people agree that Batman is a dominant introverted perceiver. In this particular series, he appears to be an Si dominant specifically. While it’s tempting to attribute his obsession with the bat symbol to Ni, the obsession is actually framed like Si within the context of the movie. Ra’s Al Ghul specifically teaches Bruce Wayne the important of being a symbol, and being more than a man. Bruce takes this lesson, and applies it, as any good Si dominant would. In other words, he borrows the idea from Ra’s, and merely personalizes it to bats based on his own past trauma. In fact, when comparing Bruce to Ra’s, we see a stark contrast in their natures. Ra’s, who is a fairly obvious high Ni user, tends to be very vague and philosophical, while Bruce is very literal and straightforward. (Ra’s actually mocks his literal interpretation of being theatrical later, when seeing him for the first time in his bat suit.)

Bruce Wayne’s straightforward nature is demonstrated in how he deals with people as Batman. For instance, when he saves Rachel from the drug, he tells her what happened, and explains what he’s about to do (sedate her, take her back to her apartment) before he does. There seems to be more of a selective approach with information rather than a deceptive one. Rather than trying to completely conceal what he is doing from Lucius Foxx, he merely tells him an obvious lie, and checks in to make sure he is okay being limitedly involved with what he is doing.

As a dominant Si user, he plans his setup with Alfred. They run through every detail when getting materials to ensure they can’t be tied back to Bruce somehow. This includes things like using shell companies, buying the materials separately and putting them together themselves, and buying in bulk so as to not raise any kind of suspicion. They take every precaution and try to think of every detail to cover their bases.

Of course, there is some more stereotypical evidence that we can reference. For instance, he claims to want to rebuild Wayne Manor exactly the same as it was before, brick by brick. He is also determined to go to the hearing when his parents’ killer is released. When a comment is made about it possibly being better for him not to go, he shoots back by saying, “Should I just bury the past out there with my parents?” He generally tends to tie things back to the past or previous experiences. We see him reference other people’s words often, using their own lines on them later on. For instance, he quotes “It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me” back at Rachel to reveal that he is Batman. He also does something similar to William Earle after buying Wayne Enterprises out from under him once the company goes public.

Te:

“Carmine Falcone brings in shipments of drugs every week. Nobody takes him down. Why? …What will it take to bring him down?”

Bruce Wayne is determined to return order to Gotham City. He is extremely disciplined, submitting himself to incredibly harsh training for the sake of his goal. Batman’s entire methodology when it comes to crime fighting is based around Te. He uses whatever methods he finds to be most effective so that he can get the results he needs as quickly as possible. This is most easily seen in his relationship with Gordon and Rachel. He gets them to tell him what needs to happen in order to put the criminals away and then makes it happen by whatever means he sees to be the most effective.

He’s heavy-handed in his tactics, and prone to using intimidation to get the results that he wants. This is shown every time he seeks someone out for information. An example can be seen when he hooks one of the dirty cops by his leg, hoists him into the air, and then demands information out of him. When he loses patience, Batman drops him so that the cop nearly plummets to his death, as a warning to not to mess with him. Another similar instance can be seen when he pushes one the mob bosses off of a fire escape, causing the man to fall far enough to break bones but not die.

Bruce deals primarily in facts, and gets straight to the point in all of his dealings. We see this the first time he introduces himself to Gordon as Batman. He starts by stating what Falcone is getting away with in plain view, and then asks what it would take to bring him down. In addition, we see his Te knee jerk reaction when Scarecrow claims to be working for Ra’s Al Ghul. Rather than being confused by how Scarecrow might know of him, he instantly snaps back by stating that Ra’s Al Ghul is dead, focusing in on the inaccurate information rather than on the underlying meaning of the claim.

Fi:

“The first time I stole so that I wouldn’t starve, yes. I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong. And when I traveled, I learned the fear before a crime and the thrill of success. But I never became one of them.”

“Bats frighten me. It’s time my enemies share my dread.”

Bruce’s Fi is manifested in the way that he defines himself. For instance, Bruce states that, even though he was living among thieves in an attempt to understand them and how they think, he never became one of them. This is in spite of not only stealing from his own company, but also stealing to avoid starvation.In addition, Bruce has his own sense of right and wrong that he identifies with. When presented with Ra’s Al Ghul’s final test, he simply states, “I’m no executioner” and refuses to do the deed. Although right after this, he inadvertently blows up the entire area while making his escape and more than likely kills people in the process. This further shows that the Fi is low rather than high due to the contradiction – because it seems to only bother him if he intentionally kills people.

Bruce’s Fi also surfaces in how he deals with Alfred. Because Bruce couldn’t seem to see past his own hurt or how the death of his parents could have had an impact on Alfred, he insensitively asks Alfred why he cares since it wasn’t his family that died. Bruce asked this even though Alfred was obviously very close to the Wayne family and had worked for them for a long time.

His reasoning behind picking bats as a symbol also partially ties back to Fi since he wants his enemies to feel the same fear of bats that he feels.

Ne:

“Familiar. Don’t you have anything new?” – Ra’s Al Ghul

Bruce starts out the series in the grip of his extraverted perceiving function. While he does want to understand how criminals think, he’s traveling around aimlessly without a greater goal. He essentially runs from his life and his name, becoming a common criminal in the process. It isn’t until Ra’s Al Ghul shows him purpose that he manages to get out of the grip and start leaning on his dominant function once again.

During his healthier state, his inferior Ne manifests in his tendency toward caution, since it would be feeding Bruce potential outcomes to account for. In addition, the varying ideas he came up with to enhance his suit and expand his equipment can also be attributed to Ne. On a more stereotypical level, the first movie hints that he’s prone to sticking with what he knows. This is demonstrated when Ra’s Al Ghul berates him for using all of the same fighting techniques when confronting him on the train