The MBTI Personality Types in Rocky

Rocky is a classic boxing series that began back in 1976. Now, there are a total of six movies, and a spin-off series based on the son of one of the significant characters. This article will specifically be covering the MBTI personality types for the characters from the Rocky series,but not the Creed series, although we will likely type those characters in the future.

In the Rocky series, there are only five characters that get enough development for us to come up with reasonable guesses as to their MBTI types. Those characters are Rocky Balboa (obviously), Apollo Creed, Adrian, Mickey, and Paulie. Most of these characters do not get enough focus to warrant an individual analysis, but I will lay out some rational for their potential types here. Of course, I will be taking a cognitive function focus, because the cognitive functions are what build one’s MBTI type.

The MBTI Personality Types in Rocky

I kept it brief with Rocky, since we wrote an individual analysis for him that goes into depth. With the others, I presented whatever significant evidence we saw, giving Apollo the most focus since he gets the most development, other than Rocky, of course.

Rocky Balboa – ESFP

“I am not the richest, smartest or most talented person in the world. But I succeed because I keep going and going and going.”

We try to be careful when a character’s personality type appears to be stereotypical for the role they’re playing, but that ended up being the case for Rocky Balboa. The Se and Fi in this character stands out pretty clearly. For Se, he gets his inspiration and his talking points from the physical environment around him. In addition, he focuses on the here and now, which causes him problems later on, problems which could have been mitigated if he had been more cautious. For instance, he spends all his money frivolously, and later ends up struggling because the job opportunities he expected to have didn’t work out. In addition, he doesn’t ever appear to have a long term plan for his life, beyond his initial, distant dream (Fi-Ni) of being a professional boxer.

As for Fi, Rocky believes in being true to yourself and following your heart. He struggles to focus when he’s out of sync this his emotions. Until he can get his personal issues resolved, Rocky is usually incapable of focusing to the degree that is necessary. (This is a reoccurring theme in the movies.) He’s honest about himself, straightforward with others, and tenacious when he sets his sights on a goal.

Read more: Rocky: Rocky Balboa (ESFP)

Apollo Creed – ENTP

“Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession. Sports make ya grunt and smell. See, be a thinker, not a stinker.”

Here’s a weird one. We actually took a while to peg Apollo Creed’s type. Here’s what we noticed. First, Apollo is not just about the boxing. In fact, at the beginning, he appears to be at least equally interested in the business side of his profession, if not more interested in that aspect. In that way, his approach does not seem very Se in nature. However, he does frequently come across as impulsive and reactive, like a perceiver or an extravert would. In many cases, though, he is actually more verbally reactive than physically reactive, which aligns more with an NP. (Anecdotally, his character is also known for being both charismatic and having a way with words.)

When in his initial match falls through, Apollo immediately starts thinking about opportunities (Ne) to hold a match as scheduled, and latches onto an idea to offer a local Philadelphia boy a chance at the title. He spins it as a marketing or public relations match (Fe). He then chooses Rocky solely based on his boxing name, and what it could symbolize. Apollo makes references to the original discovery of America being made by an Italian, and such, which seemed intuitive in nature with a bit of Si mixed in. Throughout the entire process, Apollo does absolutely no research into Rocky, and doesn’t even watch convenient TV broadcasts of Rocky training, in spite of warnings from those on his team. That recklessness (which is admittedly due to his overconfidence) seems more consistent with a perceiver.

As part of his matches, Apollo usually plans highly dramatized, over-the-top public presentations as his entry onto the stage. In the initial one with Rocky, he uses the historical theme mentioned prior, including music, a huge entourage, fancy lighting, dressing up as one of the founding fathers, etc. For his match in the fourth movie, Apollo does something similar, only the theme is more specifically patriotic. This approach seems Ne in nature, since it is both symbolic and tangential to boxing itself.

When the initial match with Rocky turns out to be more challenging than expected, Apollo claims that there’d be no rematch, until he sees the ramifications it has on his reputation. He then completely shifts opinions, and tries to publicly goad Rocky into a rematch. Initially, we thought that this might have indicated inferior Fi, because of his extreme insecurity over people viewing the match as a loss. However, tertiary Fe can be equally concerned about external validation, and like the inferior Fi users, they will hide this insecurity.

One thing that seemed inconsistent with inferior Fi (or an EXTJ) is that he objectively wins the match, which a Te dominant should have been better at accepting. Basically, his struggle is centered solely around people’s perception of him (Fe), rather than an objective failure or the lack of an objective achievement (Te). In addition, in the first movie, he’s shown publicly discouraging people from going into the same profession as him. He basically mocks his own life decision, and tells them to stay in school. That seemed more consistent with a high Ti user, rather than an inferior Fi user.

In the third movie, we noticed a few things, including his desire to train Rocky due to, what he ultimately admitted being, boredom, which suggests higher extraverted perceiving. He also shows hints of Si in his pep talk to Rocky prior to the match with Clubber. He doesn’t tell him to keep his eye on the prize or the goal, but rather to remember what it took to get here, and remember what happened last time. Finally, in the fourth movie, he expresses a struggle to change himself, claiming that he likes who he is and people can’t change who they really are. This is a fairly common inferior Si struggle.

Adrian Pennino – ISFJ

“I hope nothing changes.”

This character doesn’t get much development, but there were some hints about her personality type that I can share. Adrian is not only very socially introverted, but also conservative and cautious, which suggests dominant Si. While Rocky is high on money, Adrian is extremely hesitant about spending the money so extravagantly. While she doesn’t stop him from making a bunch of frivolous purchases, she initially voices concerns, pointing out that they don’t need a lot of the stuff. Similarly, with the house, she tries to get Rocky to slow down, and look over the house more carefully. She also asks questions that indicate she’s considering the long term consequences, such as how much the taxes are every year.

Adrian is rarely one to be very blunt. However, she does express her opinions with Rocky over time, only she often takes a more discussion-based approach. She comes across as mostly conflict avoidant whenever possible. For instance, Adrian wants Rocky to give up boxing, and in the second movie, struggles greatly with the idea that he’s going to fight again. She expresses this, but mostly just grows distant rather than resorting to heated arguments. Adrian doesn’t start supporting Rocky again until Paulie points out what her lack of support is doing to him. In the third movie, she uses her knowledge of Rocky to coerce him into admitting to his true feelings and motivations, which ends up being fear. She points out that if he walked away based on fear, he would never be able to live with himself. The discussion-based nature, or roundabout nature, of this approach seemed more like Fe/Ti than Te/Fi.

Mickey Goldmill – ESTJ

“I don’t like to hear much of what comes out of people’s mouths, and I don’t like soft-talking moments… But I just wanna tell you one thing, that I’m proud of you.”

Mickey is an abrasive and business-focused individual, which is a common manifestation of dominant Te. In the first movie, he views Rocky as a failure and directly tells him to give up boxing. It isn’t until Apollo chooses Rocky, that Mickey backtracks and tries to take advantage of the opportunity. He approaches Rocky in a straightforward manner, claiming that Rocky needs him to win. During training, Mickey never minces words, and pushes Rocky to do whatever is necessary to excel. He’s both fair and honest with his statements. While he’s not discouraging, Mickey also isn’t one for feelings or “soft-talking moments”, indicating a low feeling function. In the third movie, he somewhat reluctantly admits this, prior to simply telling Rocky that he’s proud of him.

After Rocky’s career takes off, Mickey takes a conservative approach, and chooses specific competitors that he knows Rocky can beat. He avoids risks and challenges. When Rocky accepts the challenge from Clubber, Mickey immediately quits, claiming that Rocky can’t win, so he won’t be party to that failure. Eventually, he decides to rejoin the team. However, he struggles with Rocky’s very public or commercialized approach to training, wanting them to return to the old gym where they have always trained before.

Paulie Pennino – ESTP

“I’m sick of seeing you hanging around like a freaking spider. Go out and live. Enjoy life!”

Paulie pushes Adrian to actually live her life, rather than hiding away at home. Unfortunately, he does so in a very forceful or physical manner. When she uses the Thanksgiving turkey as an excuse to not go out with Rocky, he literally throws it outside, after, of course, grabbing some for himself to eat. With Rocky, his relationship is a bit turbulent as well. He’s very straightforward with Rocky about wanting to be a money collector, and keeps trying to convince Rocky to get him the job. Once he has it, he takes full advantage of the financial perks and the status, often seen in fancy clothing and enjoying his indulgences.

While harmony is obviously not a concern of Paulie’s, being a low Fe user, he does struggle greatly with jealousy and comparing himself to other people. He then uses Fe-like framing in his arguments. In a later movie, when Rocky is successful and Paulie is not, he claims that Rocky owes him, because friends owe each other. He views help from Rocky as obligatory, and argues this with Rocky. He takes a similar approach with Adrian, viewing help from her as obligatory as well. However, as a completely different example, when complaining about Apollo’s choice of training location, Paulie tries to put the focus on Adrian in his argument, telling Rocky to “think about Adrian’s health”.