The ‘Barbie’ Character Posters Have Become an Instantly Iconic Meme

Happy Barbie Trailer Release Day to those who celebrate—which, in my humble opinion, should be everyone. You just know this movie—directed by Greta Gerwig, starring Margot Robbie in the titular role and Ryan Gosling as Himbo King Ken—is going to be the movie of the summer when it finally hits cinemas in July. Movie of the decade, of the century even. It’s already rewriting the history of cinema as we know it. What a time to be alive.

The trailer—which followed a truly inspired teaser released last December and modeled after 2001: A Space Odyssey’s iconic opening sequence—was preceded by a series of more than 20 character posters introducing the movie’s star-studded and sometimes surprising cast.

The character posters let us know once more that Barbie really is everything, while Ken … well, he’s Ken. The other Barbies living in Barbieland with Margot Robbie are presidents (Issa Rae), doctors (Hari Nef), mermaids (Dua Lipa), lawyers (Sharon Rooney), Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners (Emma Mackey and Ritu Arya, respectively). And then there are the Kens: In addition to Gosling, there’s Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa and Kingsley Ben-Adir, and they are also all there.

The thing is, these character posters are just the epitome of perfection, bright and funky like the entire movie seems to be, and instantly iconic. So much so that the Internet has taken them and given them the highest praise a piece of entertainment can hope to achieve by turning them into a meme.

Twitter is already bursting with edited versions of the posters starring beloved characters from all corners of fandom and pop culture—and I am so here for all of them, as I’m sure the Barbie marketing team was when when they finalized this design. So here’s a carefully curated selection straight from my now-bursting Twitter likes:

With the fourth and final season of Succession picking up steam on HBO, you know one of the Roy siblings had to be here:

And I would honestly pay good money to see Stede live his best life in Barbieland—but only if he can bring Edward, otherwise what even is the point:

You might have to be a bit careful when playing with this Barbie, but she’s here as well:

And with this Barbie too, let’s be honest, you never know when he’s gonna threaten to bury your loved ones alive:

And this Barbie, who definitely has her fair share of responsibilities to uphold—but then again, if Barbieland has mermaids then it definitely can have slayers too:

Oh, and Scarlet Witches:

There are, of course, versions of the poster edited with real-life people. Like this Barbie, who is sickening and couldn’t not appear in this collection: 

And this Barbie, who as all know very well did the thing:

This Barbie, on the other hand, is busy filming her adaptation of a blockbuster Broadway musical:

While this Barbie is the front woman of an iconic famous band:

And this other Barbie is very happy to be born on the West Coast:

This Barbie is at the beginning of his career but already has an impressive list of achievements to show for it:

While this Barbie is the Internet’s babygirl:

And this Barbie needs no introductions:

And what about this Barbie who just finished her trial?

To be honest, you don’t even really need to edit the image out. “This Barbie is a” is more than enough to go with the meme:

(featured image: Warner Bros)

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Benedetta Geddo

Benedetta (she/her) lives in Italy and has been writing about pop culture and entertainment since 2015. She has considered being in fandom a defining character trait since she was in middle school and wasn't old enough to read the fanfiction she was definitely reading and loves dragons, complex magic systems, unhinged female characters, tragic villains and good queer representation. You’ll find her covering everything genre fiction, especially if it’s fantasy-adjacent and even more especially if it’s about ASOIAF. In this Bangtan Sonyeondan sh*t for life.

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