#extravert

Look for the unavoidable patterns that dominate someone else (or yourself).

Fi-Dominant (INFP / ISFP): You evaluate everything through an internal, personal value filter first. (You instinctively and instantly ask: “Is this right for me?” “Does this align with my values?” Moral or emotional disharmony with yourself physically makes you feel sick. You cannot fake your agreement without feeling resentful of whomever put you in this position. It feels vital and essential for you to be authentic, even if you can’t be for whatever reason.)

Fe-Dominant (ENFJ / ESFJ): You automatically track and manage the group’s emotional atmosphere (family, friends, social circle). (You notice shifts in the moods of others around you instantly. You feel responsible for social harmony and not making others feel uncomfortable. You adjust your expression to maintain your connection to others who are present. Any “disconnect” from those around you feels urgent to fix. You think in terms of “how my behavior impacts other people’s lives.”)

Ti-Dominant (INTP / ISTP): You must internally understand and logically verify everything before accepting anything. (You dissect definitions constantly and on the spot. Inconsistency irritates you more than conflict, and you often correct others or point out contradictions, inconsistencies, or logical fallacies. You resist concluding anything until it “clicks” structurally within your own mind. Precision matters more to you than completion or social agreement.)

Te-Dominant (ENTJ / ESTJ): You instinctively organize the external world for efficiency and results. (You think in measurable outcomes. You quickly spot inefficiencies and know how to fix them, or create a system so efficient it runs itself. You prefer decisive action over lengthy theorizing. You are comfortable with leadership and stepping forward to take it, since you are the person who knows how to run things. And you default to “What works?”)

Ni-Dominant (INFJ / INTJ): You experience reality as singular lines and underlying meanings. (You naturally narrow toward one likely future with no exceptions and either assume that is going to pass or want to make it happen just as you envisioned it. You create patterns automatically. You trust your inner insights more than the facts, information, or theories around you. You think in symbolic, thematic arcs.)

Ne-Dominant: You generate possibilities automatically and compulsively on the spot. (Your mind branches out into alternative ideas and theories constantly, throwing ideas at others too fast for them to process. You struggle to narrow too quickly and figure things out as you go. You connect unrelated ideas easily. Boredom feels like suffocation.)

Si-Dominant (ISFJ / ISTJ): You reference past experience as your primary stability anchor. (You compare present events to stored internal impressions; “this reminds me of…” or “what do I know about this that is similar?” Familiarity feels safe. You value reliability and consistency deeply. You trust what has proven itself, and think if you copy someone else’s method, it should work for you and produce similar results.)

Well, I’d bet it’s better results than one could get on YouTube, Twitter, or Reddit, but come on.

I’m going to show you why MCU Tony is certainly not an extravert.

I've already posted some stuff, such as:

Absent-minded Tony

Socially awkward Tony

As you can see, Tony has some issues that hint to us that he’s not always present or outgoing. And now it’s time to gather all these and other things and summarize our findings.

Extraversion: Large social network & Thrive in teams, crowds vs Introversion: Value 1:1 friendships & Favor independence

Tony no doubt knows a lot of people. Because he ran a huge technological company, right. Business partners, military officers, politicians, SHIELD agents, journalists, his staff, etc. Although this doesn’t mean that he communicates with many people regularly, or has many friends. And we know he doesn’t. He never had many friends. Throughout the Infinity Saga, he made a few, like Pepper and Happy. But before IM2 his only friends were Rhodey, J.A.R.V.I.S., and his bots.

Jon Favreau commentary

He mostly interacted with AIs and robots, especially in his solo movies. This tells us something, doesn’t it? I’ll write a separate post about his childhood, but it is obvious that he was always an outcast: in school, college, before the Avengers, within the Avengers… We don’t really see him as a “gear” in this mechanism. He is most often steps ahead of others or steps aside. None of the Avengers were really his friends, and I’ll write about that too in the future.

Did he try to make more friends? He seemed to think some of the Avengers were. He thought Steve was. Remember this?

Or Bruce. But Bruce didn't even want to listen to him when Tony needed help.

And he left him at the end of AoU. But Tony thought he was a friend. Moreover, he considered them all his family.

That’s what he was doing – everyone around him, from assistants to teammates, were considered friends and family members and were treated accordingly. He needed that, not a large social network of "pals" and "buddies" he barely knows.

Let’s illustrate how he felt about people around him:

Deleted scene "Dubai Party" from IM (2008)

Tony doesn’t really talk to those people. He doesn't feel comfortable shaking their hands or taking anything from them. That's not why he's here, it's an alibi for the mission in Afghanistan. And we see that all this causes him disgust and discomfort.

The Charity Ball - IM (2008)

And boom - he doesn't know that Christina is talking about Jericho, which Stane sold to the Ten Rings. He thinks she is referring to this event. And he (surprisingly) reveals that he actually has social anxiety. That doesn't sound like an extrovert to me.

Alternate Opening from IM2 shows us Tony, who is trying to avoid going on some kind of dangerous mission. And then we find out that that mission is actually the Expo Opening. He doesn’t look excited that he has to go to the crowd, doesn’t he?

After that, he makes his way through the crowd of fans, actually communicating with virtually no one.

At the Senate hearing, he seems bored. He doesn’t pay much attention to the politicians, asking Pepper about chili, hacking networks, and making fun of Senator Stern (and not for his own fun, but so that Stern and other politicians/officers would fuck off).

After he’s done with Hammer and Stern he shows his public mask to others. We know he is not comfortable with this situation, but he has to deal with it.

At the party "Natalie wears the gauntlet" deleted scene from IM2

This is what Tony really thinks about these people. He doesn’t like them, doesn’t like this lifestyle. He didn’t want this party in the first place.

Sounds very introvert-like to me.

He wears sunglasses in public. Because he is uncomfortable when people see his eyes - they cannot hide from them what he wants to hide. And that brings us to the next trait…

Extraversion: Enjoy being a center of attention vs Introversion: Avoid being a center of attention

He hides behind sunglasses. Most of the time, he only shows his mask to people he considers strangers. When he's the center of attention, it's his mask, not the real Tony.

The real Tony refused to be the commander of the Avengers, despite being their benefactor and providing them with everything. The real Tony didn't go to important public events on behalf of the team, Natasha (WS and CW) did. The real Tony left the Avengers at his Compound and went to live with his family in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. And, again, we can recall what he said about his birthday and parties in general.

Here are the posts about parties: Big post, And he just said it himself

Extraversion: Think out loud vs Introversion: Think before speaking

Tony is not the guy who shares his thoughts with others. He thinks a lot. And he hides most of it from others.

Does he always think before speaking? No, not at all. But that’s his goofy personality, not extraversion.

Extraversion: Energize around people & seek greater stimulation vs Introversion: Recharge, reflect in quiet & Seek less stimulation

As we can see, Tony is not that much of a people person. He avoids gatherings when he can, and doesn’t enjoy them when he can’t. Most of the time he spends in his workshop/lab with his AIs, bots, and sometimes with Bruce, with occasional visits from Pepper and Rhodey. And he is comfortable in this environment.

With the Avengers he doesn’t act like an energy battery. Instead, he is quiet, calm, and just minds his own business. Look at the scenes from AoU:

At the party he doesn't talk to many people, we see him in a small group of Thor and Maria Hill, and he is, again, pretty quiet.

In Endgame he lives with just his wife, daughter, chickens, and Gerald the alpaca in a cabin, far from other people and their noise. He has nature around, a big fireplace, and paper books to read by it. This is his happiness. An introvert's dream.

Conclusion: all the "extraversion" we see in Tony came from his business training that started when he was a kid. He had to develop a set of skills: communicating with many people, participating in gatherings, selling stuff, running a company, dealing with journalists and politicians. He became the owner of a huge business when he was only 21 years old. Of course, he has skills formed by decades of experience. But we see he doesn’t enjoy doing all this stuff. This is not his comfort zone. His comfort zone is his lab and a few close friends. It's hard to tell from the masks he wears and his skills whether he's an introvert or an ambivert who tends to be introverted, but he's definitely not an extravert.

P.S. This is not a 100% comprehensive review of everything I've seen in the movies. There are many more examples of his introversion in the MCU. But this post is already huge, so if you would like to see more about it – let me know in the comments and I’ll make more detailed posts about each trait.

Я начинаю терять энергию и волю жизни в целом, когда я длительное время не контактирую с людьми. Получается, я не интроверт... Но когда я часто нахожусь среди людей (например, 3 дня с группой на экскурсии), то я тоже начинаю уставать, но это не унылая усталость, как когда я в одиночестве, а интенсивная тревога, которая ворует мои силы. Я не экстраверт, выходит.

i picture it like this: you have two "batteries" of mental energy. You need both of them to have at least some juice in them to thrive.

Battery A drains when you're alone and charges when you're in social situations.

Battery B drains when you're in social situations and charges when you're alone.

What is different per person is how fast those batteries tend to charge and drain.

Introverts tend to have their battery A drain more slowly and charge more quickly, and their battery B drain more slowly and charge more quickly, while extroverts are the other way around.

For me both of them charge very slowly, but my battery B drains faster than battery A.