Batman has million-dollar gadgets, Iron Man flaunts equally pricey tech, and Barbie enjoys what must be a mansion-sized closet or, more importantly, rows and rows of the frequently-pink contents thereof.

Few children’s toys are as contested as Barbie. Is the pink plastic protagonist of this summer’s blockbuster movie bearing her name a clever approach to marketing, a way to sell dolls, make-up, clothes, and accessories to the next generation of women? Or, is she the prototype for the modern woman, an independent mistress of her destiny who has excelled as a model, a rocket scientist, a fashion designer, a marine biologist, and pretty much anything else to which she aspired, perhaps even as a creator of polymer blends?

Most male heroes are acceptable across the gender spectrum, even as dolls. And despite their faces and bodies and logos being printed on all kinds of merchandise right down to socks and underpants (which fans in contrast to superheroes tend to actually wear under their pants), Barbie is the one still battling the “dedicated follower of fashion” image – astronaut gear notwithstanding – and has the reputation not only of being for girls, but for [cringe] girly girls. Fear of cooties abounds.