Kenemies to Lovers

Kenemies to Lovers is the slash ship between Ken and Ken #2 from the Barbie fandom.

Canon
Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu's Kens are two different Kens on the Barbieland. During the film, Simu Liu's Ken acts as something of a rival to Ryan Gosling's Ken. Ken #1 hates his counterpart because he thinks that Barbie likes Ken #2 better than him. The only evidence of that is Barbie greeting him in a friendly way, which is how she treats everyone.

When Ken #1 had an accident crashing into the plastic waves trying to impress Barbie, Ken #2 mocked him saying that the beach was too much for him. After that, Ken #1 told her that he would "beach him off" if he wasn't hurt, and the two were arguing about how one would beach each other off until Barbie stopped them saying that no one was going to beach off anyone. Ken #1 decided to go to the real world after making a bet with Ken #2 to look cool against him. When Ken #1 took over Barbieland and transformed it into Kendom, he convinced all the Kens, including Ken #2, that men rule society. When the Barbies continued with their plan to return Barbieland to normal, they decided to switch Kens on a beach night so that the Kens would fight each other. Eventually, Ken #1 assembled a team of Kens to fight Ken #2's team. The two kens finally came face to face in the middle of the fight and fought one on one, releasing "Kenergy". They ended up dancing and singing I'm Just Ken while the Barbies recovered the constitution. During the song, the two Kens seemingly came to an understanding, as they initially fought (with rock-paper-scissors), but then held each other's hands while all the Kens reassured one another that they are "Kenough".

In the end, Barbie reveals that she isn't interested in either of them, so their entire fight was pointless from beginning to end.

Fanon
People joked about shipping Ryan Gosling's Ken with Simu Liu's Ken as soon as the trailer established a rivalry between them. After the release of the movie, the "Kenemies" ship became one of the most popular ships in the "Barbie (Movie 2023)" tag on AO3. The rivalry between them is often seen as a parody of a love triangle, since both end the movie single, it became second nature for fanfiction writers to have them give each other a shoulder to cry on. The movie sending a positive message about breaking through the isolation of manhood for Ken to realize that he was never alone practically invites the idea of shipping them. On AO3, Kenemies to Lovers is the third most popular ship for Gosling's Ken and the only ship for Liu's Ken. Karbie is the most popular ship for Ken even in the movie, but within the slash shipping community, Kallan is considered the biggest rival for "Kenemies".

Fandom

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