List of main characters in Ben 10

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This is a list of main characters in the American animated television series Ben 10.

Contents

[edit] Protagonists

[edit] Benjamin "Ben" Tennyson

Ben Tennyson.
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Ben Tennyson.

Ben is a typical 10-year-old boy - he plays video games, rides his bike, and sometimes gets into some mischief. During a camping trip with his grandfather Max and his cousin Gwen, he finds the Omnitrix, an alien device that gives him the ability to turn into various aliens. Unable to remove it, he uses its powers to become a superhero. He finds the job trickier than he imagined, especially with the evil alien warlord Vilgax pursuing him relentlessly to retrieve the Omnitrix. However, no matter what bizarre form Ben takes, inside he's still the same mischievous yet good-hearted 10-year-old boy. In contrast, twenty years into the future of "Ben 10,000", Ben's future self is too serious and strict for his own good, but he eventually learns to lighten up again when he meets his past self.

[edit] Gwendolyn "Gwen" Tennyson

Gwen Tennyson.
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Gwen Tennyson.

Ben's 10-year-old cousin, Gwen (the two share a birthday), is the voice of reason that often unsuccessfully tries to keep him from trouble whenever Ben is ready to dive headfirst into a bad situation. Ben usually wants to ignore her and thinks that (from his point of view) she has no idea when to stop nagging him. Gwen is always trying to plan ahead and calculate the consequences of their (mostly Ben's) actions, because she is convinced that Ben never thinks before he acts. Although the two of them bicker a lot, she uses her laptop to research any strange people and/or creatures they might come across, and continually tries to help Ben figure out how the Omnitrix works (much to her own dismay). Although, most of the time, she holds Ben in contempt and insults him with dry wit and sarcasm, she has some respect for him deep down but she dislikes showing it.

Gwen is a capable gymnast and has had some training in martial arts (which she mentions in "Ghostfreaked Out"). She has also shown an almost innate skill in using various complicated devices or objects, such as in the out-of-continuity episode "Gwen 10," when Gwen gained the Omnitrix instead of Ben, and proved to be far more adept in its use than he initially was. This, however, does not seem to apply when she is outside of her own body.

Her most notable ability, however, is her almost natural skill at magic. Having within her what Charmcaster calls a "magical aura", Gwen is capable of using various magical artifacts and spells. When using the luck-giving charm of Bezel (which gave Gwen the inspiration for her own superheroine identity, Lucky Girl), she was able to activate it instinctively, where as Hex didn't (or couldn't). Later on, when she gets ahold of his staff, she is able to make it fire an energy blast which, according to Charmcaster, only a master magician should be able to do. In the possible future of "Ben 10,000", Gwen's physical and magical training leads her to become both a black belt and a master magician using the recreated Charms of Bezel, ultimately allowing to hold her own in battle. Her older self is voiced by Tara Strong.

[edit] Max Tennyson

Max Tennyson.
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Max Tennyson.

Max Tennyson, or Grandpa Max as his grandchildren call him, is Ben's and Gwen's grandfather. With a keen sense for adventure and a strange taste in food, Max always ends up taking the kids (and their taste buds) on interesting trips. As soon as school lets out, Ben looks forward to going on a traditional summer road trip with Max. Much to Ben's dismay, Ben discovers that his cousin Gwen (whom he dislikes) is joining them as well. Max, who was in the army (among other things, it seems) and has been through his share of scrapes, takes his grandson gaining superpowers in stride, and supports Ben in any way he can. Ben and Gwen were ignorant of this at first, believing him to have been a plumber. They began questioning this after several incidents in which he displayed knowledge and skills that a plumber would not normally have; everything from military-style hand signals to a working knowledge of nuclear reactors. Max and Vilgax are also old enemies, with Vilgax even going so far as to call Max "a thorn in my side." In actuality, he was indeed a plumber, but not the kind that Ben and Gwen thought he was. He was part of a government organization called "The Plumbers" which dealt with extra-terrestrial, paranormal, and other situations that others could not. Their base was beneath Mount Rushmore. The group was disbanded shortly after Max defeated Vilgax for the first time, suggesting that Vilgax had been largely responsible for the various incidents they dealt with. In "Ben 10,000", Max has further modified his RV and even replaced his arm with a mechanical limb, but still retains his caring personality.

[edit] Antagonists

[edit] Vilgax

Vilgax before being injured.
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Vilgax before being injured.
Vilgax after recovering from his injuries.
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Vilgax after recovering from his injuries.

Vilgax is a Chimera Sui Generis from a place called the Shadowy Realm, as stated by the bio that comes with his action figure. His appearance is very similar to Cthulhu. A vicious, intergalactic conqueror, Vilgax will stop at nothing to obtain the Omnitrix and use it to build an army capable of conquering every planet in the galaxy. After being severely injured after a final attack from the ship that was transporting the Omnitrix, he was confined to a regeneration tank, ordering his robotic minions and cosmic bounty hunters to track down the Omnitrix, not realizing that Ben outsmarted and outfought his minions. However, while his body was being repaired, he was also being cybernetically enhanced. When he was finally able to leave the regeneration tank, he had been enhanced to the point that none of the Omnitrix's aliens could so much as scratch him. Vilgax's ship was destroyed with him still aboard, but he survived its destruction and remained trapped within an iceberg floating in space until he was found by Kevin 11 in the episode "Back with a Vengence!". In that episode, he teamed up with Kevin in order to remove the Omnitrix, since Kevin shared its DNA. He is currently locked away in the Null Void dimension along with Kevin.

Long before Ben met him, Vilgax was causing trouble on Earth and had a run in with Max. Vilgax was stealing warheads from a mililary base when Max and his partner showed up. In the resulting fight, Vilgax was strapped to a warhead by Max and launched into his own ship.

According to events revealed in "Ben 10,000", Vilgax eventually escaped the Null Void but is torn to pieces during his last battle with Ben. Future Ben is not exaggerating about this fact, as Vilgax is fairly torn up when found by Future Dr. Animo. Animo revives Vilgax using his Transmodulator and the two of them then attempt to get revenge, only to be defeated by both the present and future Bens and Gwens. Vilgax is ultimately defeated again when future Ben used his Arctiguana form to freeze the river that he gets thrown in.

[edit] Kevin 11

Kevin, after absorbing Heatblast's power.
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Kevin, after absorbing Heatblast's power.
Kevin's mutated form.
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Kevin's mutated form.

By all outward appearances a rebellious eleven year-old, Kevin is actually a sociopath that Ben meets after having an argument with Max. Kevin has the unique ability to absorb any type of energy. He can then release that energy at will. The energy can be used to activate or overload various machines. It can also be used to make energy blasts. When absorbing energy from the Omnitrix's aliens, he becomes an incomplete, but effective, version of that alien. In his first appearance in "Kevin 11", he absorbed the abilities of Heatblast and Fourarms, using the former form's powers to get revenge on those who had wronged him. He absorbed the latter form's powers during his second battle with Ben to even the odds. After trying to take the Omnitrix from Ben, the Omnitrix emitted a feedback pulse to prevent Kevin from taking it, seemingly neutralizing his power. Kevin, however, exhibits the ability to create flame at the end of the episode.

As an unexpected side-effect of the feedback pulse, Kevin absorbed enough of the Omnitrix's power to permanently gain its powers, allowing him to perfectly copy the original ten alien forms (minus the Omnitrix symbol). Unfortunately, his human form is supplanted by the alien forms, forcing him to remain as an alien most of the time. He used some of those forms to cause a crime spree in San Francisco in "Framed". Eventually, the constant transformations caused him to mutate into a combination of the ten original forms, and he was permanently stuck in that form. All that remained of his former self were his pants, hair, and ears. Shortly after mutating, he was shot into the waters below the Golden Gate Bridge by a laser fired on the orders of Lt. Steel.

In his third appearance in "Grudge Match", Kevin attacks Ben to get revenge, blaming his condition on Ben. He also gloats that he has all of Ben's powers plus his own, making him "Kevin 11" (the name Kevin is credited under in the ending sequence of the show). Ben notes that Kevin's powers aren't as good as his pure version (he quips that they're only one-tenth as strong, though this is likely not an accurate assessment). Also, he lacks some alien powers altogether, such as Stinkfly's 360 degree vision. In general, Kevin seems to only have access to the offensive powers of Ripjaw, Diamondhead, Fourarms, Heatblast, Stinkfly, and XLR8. What Kevin fails to realize is that having every power allows him to combine the beneficial aspects of various forms to make up for the weakness. Ben has to explain this to him when they are captured and forced to fight in gladiator games as a team. Although forced to work together, Kevin's only goal was killing Ben. He is transported to a different galaxy at the end of the episode while locked in combat with Technorg.

Kevin returned in the episode "Back with a Vengence!", where he teamed up with Vilgax to defeat Ben, but he betrayed Vilgax later on in attempt to leave both in the Null Void, only for Ben to escape and leave him and Vilgax trapped. While it was confirmed in "Ben 10,000" that Vilgax eventually escaped, it is unknown as to what became of Kevin. Michael Reisz voices Kevin in "Kevin 11" and Charlie Schlatter later voiced him in "Framed," "Grudge Match," and "Back with a Vengeance".