Max Tennyson (Ben 10 Unleashed)

Max Tennyson
General Information
Species	Human
Home World	Earth
Age	68
Occupations	Plumber Astronaut (formerly) Teacher Hero Magister of Earth Air Force 1st Lieutenant (formerly)
Aliases	Magister Max Tennyson Legendary Plumber Magister Tennyson The Wrench (formerly)
Powers and Abilities
Abilities	Advanced Technology and Alien Knowledge Plumber Training Military Training
Equipment	Plumber Suit and Weapons
Relationships
Relatives	Ben (grandfather) Jedediah Tennyson (uncle) Verdona (partner) Vera Tennyson (sister) Gordon Tennyson (brother) Joel Tennyson (nephew) Manny Tennyson (nephew) Carl Tennyson (son) Sandra Tennyson (daughter-in-law) Frank Tennyson (son) Natalie Tennyson (daughter-in-law) Ken Tennyson (grandson) Ben Tennyson (grandson) Gwen Tennyson (granddaughter) Betty Jean Tennyson (sister-in-law) Camille Mann-Tennyson (niece-in-law) Clyde Fife (grandnephew)
Details
First Appearance	[[A New Beginning]]

“ Being a hero isn't about others knowing you did something good, it's about YOU knowing you did something good. Being a hero is its own reward. ”

– Max to Ben.

Magister Maxwell "Max" Tennyson or Grandpa Max as his grandchildren call him, is the paternal grandfather of Ben and Gwen. He is a fairly overweight man in his late 50's to early 60's, with a keen sense for adventure and a strange taste in food. Max ends up taking the kids on a summer vacations' road trip across the United States. Max travels in a motor home nicknamed the Rust Bucket, which he has modified with advanced technology.

Max was a semi-retired legendary Magister rank Plumber and is the mentor of Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and the Plumbers' Helpers. Max is widely considered the greatest Plumber in the Milky Way. As of Omniverse, Max quit retirement and joined the Plumbers again, and is currently Magister of Earth.

Appearance

Flashback appearances

In the original series flashbacks, Max wore a white shirt, covered by a red buttoned-up Hawaiian shirt with a floral design. He had grey hair and blue pants, as well as brown shoes.

In Alien Force and Ultimate Alien flashbacks, he wore a short-sleeved white T-shirt with light brown pants and a green pouch with a sling that hangs on his shoulder.

In Omniverse flashbacks, Max's appearance had not changed that much except for his brown pants, which were white. He has whiter hair, more wrinkles, and his eyes were little black dashes. His white shirt that he wore under his red button up shirt had changed to black. Also, his shoes were grey at the top and black at the bottom.

Regular Appearances

In Ben 10 Unleashed, Max wears a white shirt, covered by a red buttoned-up Hawaiian shirt with a floral design. He has more wrinkles, a and whiter hair. He wore black shoes.

Personality

An easy-going, kind, and normally jovial man, Max Tennyson often comes across as pleasantly absent-minded at times, but is actually quite perceptive. For instance, he knew early on in Ben's adventures who was most likely pursuing him, as he was aware of Vilgax's history having fought the alien tyrant many times before.

Max is a very brave man, having dedicated his life to preserve peace on Earth between humans and extraterrestrial life. His bravery has resulted in him being injured, having his DNA spliced, nearly killed in several dozen ways, and more. His prioritization of others' safety above his own even when bereft of a weapon shows his selfless nature at its finest.

Ever the consummate strategist, Max is very intelligent, being able to select the correct weapon to battle Zs'Skayr based on minimal information given to him by Ben, choosing a light-based weapon to bring down the rogue Ectonurite.

Though well-meaning, Max is not without a stern side, having struggled to guide Ben during the first few months of his grandson's possession of the Omnitrix. When pushed, Max can be strict, harsh, but not unreasonably so, not being afraid to call people out on their selfishness and mistakes when necessary.

Max has a weird appetite, which comes from his travels both on the Earth and beyond.

Powers and Abilities

Although Max doesn't have any super powers, he is very skilled in combat and can take on anyone who does have them as he is quite athletic for someone of his age. As a retired Plumber, he has access to a variety of various Plumber tools and weaponry, which he uses skillfully. Aside from that, his experience from his Plumber days made him knowledgeable on various species of aliens. He is also able to strategize well and is skilled in inventing new machines. He is telepathically connected to his lover, Verdona.

Before joining the Plumbers, Max was a United States Air Force pilot, with dreams of joining NASA and going to the moon. He was an expert at flying an F-104 Starfighter and was able to shoot down an alien spacecraft.

Weaknesses

Despite being highly trained, Max is far from the prime athletic specimen he was during his days as a Plumber. He is a senior citizen, and has not managed to keep in shape, though he does still possess an incredible tactical mind to compensate for his less than stellar physical conditioning.

Love Interests

Verdona

Max Tennyson and Verdona are one of the couples in the franchise.

Background

In Moonstruck, Max tells Ben and Gwen the story of how he met Verdona. When Max was to finally go to the moon he met Verdona in a café. Suddenly a Synthroid attacked the cafe, revealing that he has come to take away Verdona. Max and Verdona fled and started to hide. However, the Synthroid was able to find and beat Max and he took away Verdona. Using his telepathic connection with Verdona he was able to locate and rescue her and Magister Labrid, who had came to arrest the Synthroid. The Synthroid was destroyed and the bracelet that prevented Verdona from using her mana powers fell of. Revealing her true form, she asked Max whether he would go with her back to Anodyne. However Max declined, and with a kiss, they parted. At the end of the episode it was hinted that they met again.

Alien Force

In What Are Little Girls Made Of?, believing that Max had passed away, Verdona returned to Earth for old time's sake, and to remember all the fun times she had with Max. Ben, Kevin, and Gwen were suspicious when they saw Verdona at Max's secret fishing lodge, and began to fight with her. When Gwen hit her with an energy blast, she was extremely surprised and realized Gwen was an Anodite just like her. Gwen then told her that Max was her grandfather, and Verdona then realized that Ben and Gwen were her grandchildren. Verdona explained to Gwen that she had inherited her powers from her, and there was no such thing as magic. Instead, what Gwen called magic was actually mana/life energy. Verdona tried to persuade Gwen to come to Anodyne to master her powers and abilities, but Gwen refused and stayed on Earth with Ben and Kevin. Verdona also said that she would return to check up on Gwen and see how she's doing, and she did in Girl Trouble.

Xylene

During Xylene's early years, she met Max Tennyson, who at the time was a Plumber. She wanted Max to go to Ringa Morr with her, but Max declined it saying he has to defeat Vligax. Later when Xylene was unlocked from her sleeping pod on earth, Max again declined to go with her telling that Ben and Gwen are a new world for him.

Trivia

• Max was supposed to get the Omnitrix, but when Ben found it, his DNA was close enough to Max's that it attached itself to his wrist instead.
  • If Max had used the Omnitrix from the start, the Rooters would not consider him a threat.
• Originally, Max's lucky Hawaiian shirt was given to him by Gwen's older brother, Ken. However, this was retconned in Omniverse, as Max was shown to be wearing the shirt as a young adult, long before Ken would have been born.
• Max previously thought Gwen's powers were magic. He did not realize it was Gwen's inheritance any more than her parents did.
• Max was a Magister for at least 5 years.
• In the early stages of production of the original series:
  • Max was going to be a scientist who drove a blimp.
  • Max originally wasn't a Plumber, he was just an average inventor.
• Max has been the subject of several running gags throughout the franchise:
  • Most humans (especially Ben, Gwen, and Kevin) find his cooking to be disgusting, while aliens such as Rook and Xylene cannot get enough of the alien cuisine.
  • Background characters are shown wearing shirts identical to Max's.
• Max was similar to Kevin when he was Kevin's age. For example, in Moonstruck, young Max says "Hey! Watch the paint job!" and "My ride!", both of which have been said by Kevin.
• Max's favorite color is either pale green or magenta.
• Max has stock car driving experience.
• Max once worked with the Saturdays on The Bellwood Experiment, a secret project.
• Alternate counterparts of Max do not exist on either Rex's or Mad Ben's home dimensions.
  • In the case of the former, this was proven true during Ben's visit there, as he hypothesized that Max may not exist on Rex's Earth.
  • In Dimension 23, Max died before the Omnitrix reached Earth, leaving Ben 23 with no mentor or moral support until Azmuth 23 took up that position.