The Amazing Spider-Man (2012): Peter Parker (ISFP)

Fi:

“I think he stands for what you stand for, sir. Protecting innocent people from bad guys.” – Peter Parker about Spider-Man

“Stop this. This isn’t you!”

This iteration of Peter Parker appears to be an Fi dominant. He’s driven by his personal emotions and desire to remain true to himself. A good example of this is shown during his dinner with Gwen’s father. He struggles with hearing Spider-Man being spoken ill of, and instantly feels the need to defend his alter ego. Peter attempts to convince Gwen’s father that Spider-Man stands for justice, and protecting innocent people. Spider-Man is just trying to help, and do what the police can’t, or so Peter tries to claim. The idea that people would see him as a villain and not as the hero that he wanted to be seen as, deeply bothered him. Of course, it would have made more sense to allow Gwen’s father to think what he was going to think, and not risk drawing attention to himself as Peter Parker. (This would have likely been the approach of an Fe user, but as an Fi user, Peter couldn’t stand to hear his secret identity tarnished.)

Granted, a lot of the reasoning above is a guise for Peter’s actual desire: revenge. However, as he continues to act as Spider-Man, he essentially has a defining moment, where he saves a kid, and finds his higher purpose. From that point on, we see a much more mature version of Peter, who is taking his role as Spider-Man very seriously. He explains to Gwen that, no matter the risk to himself, he has to stop the monster, because it will go after more innocent people.

Peter feels the need to be completely honest with Gwen prior to getting seriously involved with her. Obviously, they have feelings for each other by this point, but Gwen is clearly looking for him to confess his love at this point. However, Peter is unable to until he admits that he’s Spider-Man, which demonstrates his drive to be both authentic and emotionally honest with those close to him. Similarly, when Dr. Connors is rampaging as the reptilian monster, Peter tries to appeal to his true self, urging him to stop because “this isn’t you!”

Se:

“Let’s get out of here. Just for a minute. Can we?”

This version of Spider-Man is much more action-oriented in nature. He struggles to articulate and in most cases would rather demonstrate something physically rather than convey the thought through words. This is particularly noticeable in the balcony scene between him and Gwen. He wants to tell her that he is Spider-Man before confessing his feelings to her, but struggles to put it into words. He frustrates her to the point of saying just forget it then. At this point, he springs into action, catching and pulling her in with a web. He then proceeds to kiss her as he has now physically revealed his secret to her.

He relies more on physical humor based on the environment around him rather than witty banter when interacting with people as Spider-Man. For instance, in the scene with the car thief, he goes into a full on method acting mode, as he mock cowers in fear when the thief pulls out a knife. After shutting him up with a web to the mouth, Peter also cups his ear when he says he can’t hear him, to add a physical emphasis to what he’s saying. As a general rule, while he does some banter, it’s much milder compared to other version of Spider-Man, and he tends more to emphasizing with physical humor instead.

Another interesting thing to note is that this is the only version of Spider-Man that we see lean into his enhanced abilities openly as Peter Parker. Some examples of this would be when he humiliates Flash in basketball, catches a football while kissing Gwen and throws it so hard that it dents the goal post, and after his uncle Ben died, grabs Flash, pinning him up against the lockers in mid-air. While this all is somewhat anecdotal, we do think it provides evidence for a greater desire to interact with his physical environment.

Ni:

“Okay no, forget that. I’m not going to talk about that. I’m gonna talk about me, okay? It’s impo– I wish I could just– I can’t. It’s hard to say. I don’t know.”

As mentioned briefly in the Se section, Peter struggles with articulating. However, when he can’t find the right words to say, he tends to stutter and be at a loss for words, rather than doing nervous rambling like we see other versions of him do. The balcony scene with Gwen is a prime example of this. He wants to reveal his secret, but simply cannot find the words, giving Gwen all manner of wrong impressions about what he is trying to say. First, it looks like he wants to confess feelings, then like he wants to continue talking about the argument he just had with her father, before clumsily telling her that he wants to talk about himself. Even then, he ultimately starts muttering that he doesn’t know how to explain, which prompts Gwen to try and leave.

Other interactions with Gwen go in a similar fashion. When he tries to ask her out, he never manages to articulate any kind of plans. Ultimately, he fails to actually offer up an activity, and is only ever able to produce, “We could uh… or we could..” He struggles in a similar way when speaking with Doctor Connors. Instead of trying to explain that he has a formula that can help him, Peter simply points to a pen and paper, saying, “Can I.. uh..” and proceeds to write out the equation. This all seems to indicate the more abstract thought process of an Ni user. Peter struggles to articulate his thoughts due to them not being solid thoughts which makes it difficult to turn them into words. This tendency ultimately makes it easier for him to express those thoughts through actions instead when the options is available.

Te:

“Point is, this is my responsibility. I have to fix it.”

“You leave right now. That is an order, okay?”

While Peter is fairly easy going, as an ISFP should be, he occasionally takes a blunter approach with others, feeling the need to assert physical control in order to complete a task. When he realizes that Dr. Connor’s has become a monster because of the equation he gave him, Peter takes responsibility for his actions, telling Gwen that he needs to fix it. When he’s in action-mode, chasing down the monster or fighting, he becomes extremely assertive and very direct. When Gwen calls him after the attack on the school, Peter essentially goes into business mode, telling her that he’s fine but that he needs an anti-dote made, which is followed up with asking if she’s capable of doing that. He later gives her an “order” to leave Oscorp when he discovers that Connors is headed there.

In his more intimate interactions with Gwen, Peter also demonstrates a more assertive side. He tells her to “shut up” when they’re kissing right after he reveals his true identity to her. Similarly, after he gets injured and drops in on Gwen, he, after a while, tries to convince her to go out with him for a bit, and comes off as somewhat demanding in the process.