'Barbie' character posters confirm that life in plastic looks fantastic (2024)

Character posters for Greta Gerwig's Barbie have dropped, giving us our first glance at the film's characters and reminding us that everyone is in this movie.

You've got Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken — but they aren't the only Barbies and Kens in the world! Issa Rae, Dua Lipa, Emma Mackey, and more are all playing different versions of Barbie, and their character posters helpfully let you know what they're up to. "This Barbie is president," declares Rae's poster. "This Barbie has a Nobel Prize in physics," says Mackey's. And what about Robbie's Barbie? According to her poster, "Barbie is everything."

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While our Barbies are off saving the world, what are our Kens up to? Not much. "He's just Ken," reads Gosling's poster. Similar posters for Ncuti Gatwa, Simu Liu, and Kingsley Ben-Adir offer more variations on the "just Ken" sentiment. It's clear the real star of the show is Barbie, and Ken's just an accessory. Will that cause Ken an existential crisis down the road? I'm thinking yes.

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But Barbie and Ken aren't the only characters we meet in this delightful posters. We also get a look at Emerald Fennell as Barbie's far less popular friend Midge ("She's Midge.") and Michael Cera as Ken's friend Allan ("There's only one Allan!").

Most surprising of all are the character posters that stray outside the realm of Barbie and into the realm of humans. Will Ferrell stars as the CEO of Mattel, and according to his poster, that means we should call him mother. He's accompanied by suits Jamie Demetriou and Connor Swindells, who along with Mackey and Gatwa prove the Sex Education to Barbie pipeline is alive and well. America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt round out the human cast, with Helen Mirren acting as narrator.

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After looking at the posters, two things are clear. One, this cast is stacked. Two, the more we learn about Barbie, the less we truly know. Why are humans involved? Is Barbie a child's fantasy played out by A-list actors? Are the Barbies aware that they're dolls owned by Mattel? Are the Kens fine living in the Barbies' shadows? Why can't this movie already be out?

Luckily, in this tide of sparkly pastel chaos, we are blessed with one certainty: There's only one Allan.

Barbie hits theaters July 21.