The Watchmen: 7 Characters Based On Their Myers-Briggs® Personality Types

With the arrival of HBO’s upcoming Watchmen series that promises to expand (and hopefully respect) Alan Moore's original breakthrough graphic novel, is set to premiere later this year. That being said, there’s no better time to analyze the Watchmen in hopes of getting a better idea of where we may see them in the new series.

So whether it’s the cold, rational wits of Watchmen like Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan or the introverted and compassionate nature of Laurie Juspeczyk (aka Silk Spectre), we’ll see what’s really driving these visceral heroes to make the decisions they make and lead the violent lives they live.

7 7. Jon Osterman (Dr. Manhattan): The Logician - INTP

In many ways, perhaps the most important ways, when Dr. Jon Osterman was trapped in the intrinsic field subtractor, it didn’t just strip away the matter that formed his body, it stripped away the positive aspects of his personality.

Jon Osterman was a man that had a genuine enthusiasm for learning the structures that composed our universe. He was logical, intuitive, and still able to consider those around him. But as Dr. Osterman is stripped of his matter, another change takes place and the newly reconstructed Dr. Manhattan is left with a deep loneliness, an insensitive nature, and a disdain for humanity that runs so deep that he eventually leaves the entire planet behind altogether.

6 6. Daniel Dreiberg (Nite Owl 2): The Defender - ISFJ

In the comics, we see that Daniel is the very definition of the “mild-mannered hero.” Daniel is courageous and eager to pick up the fight like the hero that inspired him so much. He’s also rather shy and introverted, preferring to keep to himself when he’s not taking care of someone else, which he does frequently. It takes a lot of understanding to pair up with someone like Rorschach and have a successful crime-fighting relationship, but Daniel manages to make it work somehow.

We see how deeply unfulfilled he is after the Keene Act when he gives up crime-fighting, which is where he feels he can help people the most. He can be rather idealistic in his beliefs, which we see in his enthusiasm to form a team of heroes to have a greater effect on crime as a whole.

5 5. Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre 2): The Adventurer - ISFP

Laurie Juspeczyk (aka Silk Spectre) is a woman who is essentially lost when we first meet her both in the comics and the film based on them. She followed her mother, the original Silk Spectre, into becoming a masked hero.

As Silk Spectre and in her personal life, Laurie is a strong, liberal, and vocal individual; regularly voicing her social concerns. While Laurie has grown almost as disillusioned with her life as Dr. Manhattan has with humanity, she is still compassionate and often driven by emotions. It takes a lot of compassion and understanding to last in a relationship with Dr. Manhattan for as long as Laurie manages to. That alone could be her superpower.

4 4. Walter Kovacs (Rorschach): The Logistician - ISTJ

Rorschach (aka Walter Kovacs) is a hard personality type to narrow down. He’s a hero who has been deeply scarred by the traumas of his past ventures. Throughout the events of Watchmen, we only see Rorschach come closer and closer to losing grips with reality entirely. But through all of the traumas and the mental illness, we can see a rigid man, ruled by structure and logic who is often seen organizing his thoughts in his journal. While the other Watchmen eventually come to terms with Adrian Veidt’s plan to unite the global superpowers, Rorschach is the one hero that understands that even though Adrian has decided to sacrifice millions of people in hopes of saving the world, even that sacrifice won’t be enough in the end. Something even Dr. Manhattan was unwilling to see.

3 3. Edward Blake (The Comedian): The Entrepreneur - ESTP

While Edward Blake may not have been a very good man (or even a decent man for that matter), and while “hero” may not be a title Blake really deserved, he certainly took advantage of it while he had the opportunity.

Blake was never one to keep anyone guessing. He was strong, sensible, if not a bit vindictive. Edward is another character, much like Rorschach, who really saw the world for what it was. And sadly, much like Rorschach, it would eventually cost him his life. Blake thrived in the relative chaos of Vietnam and once it was time to come back and hang up the mask, he definitely didn’t have an easy time adjusting to a life without all the violence and action he craved so much.

2 2. Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias): The Architect - INTJ

Adrian Veidt, the smartest man in the world, or so he’d like you to think. He may be incredibly intelligent, but that intelligence has led to an arrogance that kicked off the entire graphic novel. Ozymandius fell into the trap of believing his own legend, and that arrogance we mentioned earlier drives him to make decisions because he believes he’s the only person on the planet smart enough to take action.

On a planet with a being like Dr. Manhattan walking around, that’s an incredibly difficult position to back up. And while his plans may never achieve the effect desired (if Doomsday Clock is to be believed), he certainly managed to outsmart all the heroes around him.

1 1. The Sea Captain (The Black Freighter): The Commander - ENTJ

The Sea Captain watches his ship burn in Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter

From the little that we know about the sea captain, we can tell that he, much like Adrian, is a man who is not afraid to make the tough decisions or sacrifices when necessary. Whether he's forming a raft from the rotting bodies of his crew in order to make it home, or striving to single-handedly save his hometown from the threat of the Black Freighter, it’s easy to see that the Sea Captian is a man who is unafraid of taking charge when he needs to.

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While he is perfectly capable of going alone as we see throughout the course of his story, where the Sea Captain really differs from Adrian is that he craves the company of his fellow human beings and is lost without them.