Ruth Handler as God of Barbie Landmovie, the Ruth Handler role is a spiritual one. She shows up in a retro kitchen randomly tucked away in Mattel headquarters to comfort Barbie during a moment of existential crisis. She helps her escape the Mattel suits who want to put Barbie back in a box. At the time, Barbie doesn’t know who the woman is, but it is clear they have a spiritual connection.
Toward the end of the movie, Ruth reveals her identity to Barbie, insisting that of course a woman was Barbie’s original inventor—despite the fact that the Mattel boardroom is now currently dominated by men. She cracks a joke about now being beatific—referencing both her struggle with cancer and her money troubles with the government—but says that Barbie was designed not in the image of any one woman, but to be aspirational.