| “ | “I know that if I screw up, people might die, but I also know that if I don’t do anything, people are definitely going to die. If throwing out common sense is the only way I can avoid paralyzing myself, then that’s what I have to do.” | ” |
–Ben explaining his ignorance of common sense to Rook, Mortality | ||
| Ben Tennyson | |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Home World | Earth |
| Alias | Benjamin Kirby Tennyson (Full Name) Ben 10 |
| Part In Team | Leader |
| Alternate Counterparts | All Canon Counterparts Ehi |
| Friends | Kevin Levin Rook Blonko |
| Relatives | Gwen Tennyson (Cousin) |
| Relationships | Kai Green (Girlfriend) |
| Age | 18 (MWR) ~24 (Current) |
| Status | Active |
| Abilities and Equipment | |
| Abilities | Combat Training Photographic Memory |
| Equipment | Omnitrix (Formerly; Destroyed) Legacy Omnitrix |
| Details | |
| First Appearance | Re:Start |
Ben Tennyson is the main character of the Ben 10 franchise. His Earth-83 incarnation primarily serves as a post-OV continuation of his story.
History[]
Canon[]
- Main article: Ben Tennyson (Classic)
Most if not all of Ben's history from the original series up through Omniverse is considered canon to his Earth-83 incarnation.
Ben 10: Milky Way Race (2014-2015)[]
After Ben's recklessness during an encounter with Kraab causes an accident that destroys the Omnitrix and leaves Rook in critical condition, Ben is severely reprimanded by Azmuth, who gives him a new Omnitrix called the Legacy Omnitrix that has an onboard AI designed to keep Ben in check (and no access to Alien X). While apprehensive about giving Ben the new Omnitrix right away, Azmuth states that doing so was necessary, as he needs Ben to investigate a suspicious contest called the Milky Way Race, the grand prize of which is stated to be Temporus, a planet that should no longer exist thanks to the events of the Time War.
Ben enters the race alongside Gwen and Kevin, doing his best to regain confidence as a hero as he battles various enemies from the past that have entered the race themselves. Albedo begrudgingly joins Ben's team as an engineer after his own spacecraft is destroyed on the condition that they help him find a way to return to his original body, and Gwen releases Charmcaster from her bag as a last resort when the team is cornered by magic users, resulting in a tense alliance between everyone as they ostensibly work together to win the race and try to avoid dying.
Ben's team is occasionally joined by a time-traveling 16-year-old Chrono Spanner, who never officially joins the team but helps them out of sticky situations at the behest of Professor Paradox. The necessity of his presence becomes clear when Ben, who has been suffering from blackouts where his eyes glow pink and his personality drastically changes, transforms into Echo Echo and the pink-eyed personality takes control of a clone before reverting to human, gaining a body of its own.
This new entity introduces itself as Ehi, a version of Eon that has been lying dormant in Ben's Omnitrix ever since the events of Race Against Time. He reveals that he was the one who set up the Milky Way Race by taking over Ben's body and using his transformations to impersonate various seemingly unrelated individuals. After a brief fight in which he wipes the floor with Ben's team, Ehi takes his leave, becoming a recurring antagonist up through the end of the race.
In spite of everything being thrown against them, Ben's team manages to win the Milky Way Race. Their celebration is cut short when it's revealed that the race's route was designed so that the contestants would unwittingly draw a galaxy-spanning magic rune powerful enough to summon Temporus back from non-existence, the advent of which begins destabilizing the omniverse and allows the Time War to begin again.
Ehi attempts to kill Ben before he can interfere, but is interrupted by the arrival of Rook, whose wounds have finally healed. After a brief heart-to-heart, Ben and Rook begin fighting Ehi together, and with the unexpected help of Vilgax, who has gradually been building up his own grudge against Ehi, manage to defeat him once and for all. Vilgax challenges Ben to one final duel as the universe is collapsing around them, and after a hard-fought battle, Ben comes out victorious, seemingly killing Vilgax but acknowledging that his nemesis has a tendency to come back from the dead.
As Ben's team and the other surviving contestants do their best to fight off the hordes of combatants unleashed by the Time War, Azmuth appears, and, having evaluated Ben's growth along this journey, judges him worthy to once again wield Alien X. After a brief conversation with Bellicus and Serena where Serena notes that Ben seems to have grown up since their last deliberation, Ben manages to use Alien X to undo the summoning of Temporus, ending the recreated Time War and saving the universe once again.
Post-Race (2015-2020)[]
Not much is known about Ben's activities during the five years following the Milky Way Race, as a surprising drought of universe-ending threats meant he was primarily left performing standard Plumber duties alongside finishing high school. He picked up soccer again during this period, eventually becoming a star player on his high school soccer team.
As alien immigration became more common over the years, Ben found himself having to intervene in hate crimes more often, placing him under a significant amount of stress.
New World (2020-???)[]
At some point while on patrol with Rook, Ben opened up about his thoughts on mortality.
At a later date, Ben met with Kai to discuss their relationship, with the two of them ultimately resolving to try working more as a team.
Tech 10: Star Spirit (2040; Erased)[]
Ben is mentioned as having been lured off-planet by the Zodiac Organization to give their leader Orion a chance to complete his plans without catching the attention of the famously powerful hero.
This specific course of events would later be erased in a partial reset of Earth-83.
Personality[]
Ben starts off Milky Way Race with his OV personality until his overconfidence and obliviousness lead to a disaster that destroys the Omnitrix and nearly kills Rook, leaving him with severe guilt that puts him into a depressive state and makes him doubt his ability to use the Omnitrix for good. Over the course of the race, Ben gradually regains his confidence, rebuilding his heroic personality with the help of Gwen, Kevin, the Omnitrix AI, and even his enemies to some extent. By the end of the race, he has fully grown back into the role of a hero, but now with a much more tempered ego.
As Ben grows older, he ends up being placed under more and more stress and reverts to a more childish personality to cope, though he retains his sense of responsibility and it ends up being much easier for the people around him to tell that the whole thing's a ruse. He doesn't like getting other people involved in his problems and will often (unconvincingly) wave off their concerns, resulting in the occasional conflict as people grow tired of his disingenuous responses.
One of the primary thing Ben struggles with is his identity; having met several future versions of himself, each extremely successful in their own rights, he feels pressured to come up with something unique to set himself apart, and constantly worries that he might not live up to his potential as a great hero.
Abilities[]
After years of fighting aliens, Ben has become quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat, able to hold his own against some aliens even without transforming.
Ben has a near-photographic memory when it comes to things that interest him.
Having been a star player on his high school soccer team, Ben is quite skilled with using his legs, and has shifted from relying primarily on punching attacks to kicking attacks in melee combat.
Equipment[]
Omnitrix[]
Ben continued using the completed Omnitrix up until its destruction at the beginning of Milky Way Race.
Legacy Omnitrix[]
An Omnitrix resembling the original Ben 10K's Omnitrix that was given to Ben to replace the original Omnitrix after it was destroyed. It contains an AI that appears semi-sentient, communicating with Ben via beeping noises only he can understand and keeping him in check while helping him form battle strategies and generally use the device more responsibly.
The Legacy Omnitrix initially gave Ben access to all of his transformations except for Alien X, which was deliberately locked off by Azmuth in response to Ben's tomfoolery. After access to Alien X was restored, the Legacy Omnitrix gradually began unlocking more aliens as Ben grew older, giving him access to over 100 aliens by the year 2020.
Appearances[]
Ben 10: Milky Way Race[]
Other[]
Trivia[]
- While not the primary focus of many stories, Ben is still recognized as essentially the "main character" of Earth-83, with series like the Tech 10 franchise explicitly serving as side-story spinoffs from canon.