MCU: Doctor Strange (ENTJ)

We considered multiple different personality types for Marvel’s Doctor Strange, including ESTJ, ENTJ, and INTJ. Ultimately, we settled on Doctor Strange being the ENTJ personality type due to a variety of factors, which will be discussed below. I hope you enjoy the article. Stay tuned for more Marvel character analyses in the future!

Te:

“You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current and use its power as your own.” – Ancient One

“I control it by surrendering control. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything, even death.” – Ancient One

“You had a second opinion. What you needed was a competent one.”

Doctor Strange values being in control of everything he comes in contact with. Christine Palmer makes comments about this, saying that he always had to be the one “holding the knife.” Strange is quick to take charge, which causes him to butt heads with people frequently, especially Tony Stark. Even as a prisoner in cuffs, in the movie “In the Multiverse of Madness”, Strange keeps trying to give orders to everyone around him, including the council in charge of his fate. One of the significant challenges that he faces when training at Kamar-Taj has to do with learning how to relinquish control. The Ancient One describes his approach as one who is trying to beat a river into submission, which demonstrates the heavy-handed dominant Te approach.

Doctor Strange values efficiency. For example, he teaches himself astral projection, so he can learn more efficiently. Now, he can continue on even when he’s sleeping. However, he is often impatient wanting to achieve his goal, which can cause him to be too hasty or to break rules. He doesn’t seem to seriously consider why the rules might be in place, focusing solely on the fact that they’re in his way. He frequently gets in trouble for his brash nature, especially during his training. The time he tampers with continuum probabilities is a good example of this. His dealings with Spider-Man during “No Way Home” demonstrate another good example of his over-eagerness to act leading to a failure to slow down and fully consider a situation before acting.

Ni:

“You lack imagination.”

“Your curiosity could have gotten you killed.” – Wong

We considered ESTJ for Doctor Strange, as well as INTJ. However, there were three main things that narrowed us down to auxiliary Ni. (1) He tends to hone in on singular conclusions without considering other options. (2) He often fails to gather the full context of a situation (or appropriate depth of information) before acting. (3) He often disregards physical consequences.

Strange is prone to classic Ni tunnel vision, where he hones in on the first viable solution that he sees, and tries to make it happen. Consequently, he often fails to gather adequate information or consider all the factors. “The Multiverse of Madness” shows this happening time and time again. Every time Strange is presented with a viable solution to defeating the Scarlet Witch, he chases after that solution. When a new one is presented, he quickly forgets the previous one. He fixates on the Darkhold, but without seriously considering other options to avoid the risks associated with it. He literally sees the consequences of using the Darkhold in multiple alternate versions of himself, in addition to consequences it has on their subsequent universes. However, he still utilizes that solution in spite of it, and with little hesitation. This specifically points away from high Si.

Strange generally seems to struggle with adequately communicating with others. When America learns he doesn’t speak Spanish, Wong makes a comment about how Strange barely likes English. This indicates a tendency for him to be vague, failing to share adequate context. That often points to Ni rather than Si. His communication issues are further demonstrated in his dealings with Spider-Man, where their failure to discuss things in depth leads to a botched spell.

Se:

“They really should put the warnings before this spell.”

“You’ve always spent money as fast as you could make it…” – Christine Palmer

In the first section, we discussed Strange’s over-eagerness to act as being indicative of dominant Te. However, dominant Te in combination with tertiary Se makes this especially so. When learning, he’s eager to put that learning into action, and often jumps on the opportunity to do so, halting any further information gathering. When caught tampering with time continuum probabilities, he admits to not having read the full section on the spell. If he had, he would have seen all the warnings attached to it. Instead, he sees the ritual, and just decides to try it out, without concern for the potential consequences.

Strange impulse spends, which is a common tendency of tertiary Se. Of course, he spares no expense when trying to find a cure for his hands. However, Christine Palmer makes a comment about him having always spent money as fast as he could make it.

Fi:

Doctor Strange defines himself by his achievements, which makes his hand injury extremely devastating to him. He views life without his work as nothing, which is why he’s willing to try anything to find a cure. Later on, the Ancient One points out that he excels because he fears failure, rather than because he craves success. Essentially, his inferior Fi makes him fearful and arrogant.

Wanda frequently refers to Strange as a hypocrite during their conflict over the Multiverse. Strange has a tendency to shift positions, or contradict something he stated before if it will solve the current problem. This demonstrates his inferior Fi’s failure to draw consistent moral boundaries. His dominant Te is overeager to solve the problem by any means necessary, so Fi gets pushed aside in favor of regaining order.