Professor Paradox

''This article is about the time traveler named Paradox. For the episode with the same name, see Paradox (episode).''

Professor Paradox is a time traveling professor who can travel anywhere in space or time and within reason. While he forgot his true name from centuries being trapped in separate reality, he now goes by the name "Professor Paradox" after taking a liking to being referred to as such.

Ben 10: Alien Force
An unnamed scientist having discovered special properties in quartz crystals, Paradox received government funding to break a hole in the space-time continuum. But a slight miscalculation (that caused the professor to turn timeless) and an explosion accidentally caused by his panicked assistant Hugo (the reason for the experiment going wrong - turning Hugo into a extra-dimensional creature), threw Paradox into the event horizon, where he remained for a hundred thousand (100,000) years. He was displaced outside of time, where he didn't age, sleep or eat, just exist. He went insane for a while but then got bored and regained sanity. He soon had complete understanding of the space-time continuum.

Paradox used his understanding to travel across time, making different parts of history better for others. He said he would help Ben save the "whole entire universe".

Paradox soon learns that the accident sent an extra-dimensional creature fifty years from the time of the experiment. He traveled to the Alien Force time to stop it, meeting Ben's younger self. After a few fights with the creature, Ben told Paradox to take them all back to the accident, where it is discovered that Hugo was the creature. He was frightened and confused, but turning everything to dust. By preventing Hugo from being sucked into the event horizon, it negated his time-accelerating existence. After returning to Ben's present, Paradox was stoked that he didn't see it in the first place. He took an older Hugo to a behind-the-scenes look at eternity.

Paradox left the trio one last gift, Kevin Levin's regressed car, factory new from 1976. But a note warns him that if the car comes in contact with anything from that era, it would explode like antimatter. Dwayne McDuffie has confirmed that the note that Paradox left Kevin was merely a joke.

Paradox then later appears in the two part, season two finale, War of the Worlds meeting Azmuth to take him away from the Highbreed invasion and goes to assist Ben in fighting the Highbreed. In this he seems to be able to stop time, as his watch flashed and he just zapped past a bunch of DNAliens.

Paradox appears in the episode Time Heals where he tells Gwen that time traveling is for immortals and fools. Later, he informs Gwen of the dire consequences her actions have caused.

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
Paradox appears in the episode of Ultimate Aggregor by giving advice to Kevin. It is revealed he divided the Map of Infinity into four pieces in the past.

In Perplexahedron, it is revealed he also created planet Perplexhahedron to hide the final piece of the map from those who would misuse its power.

Paradox appeared in The Forge of Creation, having the key to stop Aggregor from tapping into the power of Alien X by helping Ben and his team getting there and he also took 10 year old Ben home. Paradox also can't be within 500 light years near any Celestialsapien, although why he isn't allowed to go near them is currently unknown.

Paradox appeared in Ben 10,000 Returns to visit Ben 10,000 and helps Ben 10,000 and Ben's team foil Eon's evil plan. At the end of the episode, he asked Ben 10,000 to restore Swampfire and Way Big. He also gives a warning to Ben's team about Old George and The Creature From Beyond before leaving with Ben 10,000.

Ben 10: Alien Force

 * Paradox (first appearance)
 * War of the Worlds: Part 1
 * War of the Worlds: Part 2
 * Time Heals

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

 * Ultimate Aggregor (first re-appearance)
 * Map of Infinity (flashback)
 * The Forge of Creation
 * Absolute Power: Part 2 (ID card)
 * Ben 10,000 Returns

Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks
Paradox appears in the Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks video game. He first appears during the alien invasion telling Ben that it is not the time to use Alien X. After Azmuth's visit to Ben, Paradox returns and rewinds time to the point before the alien invasion. Paradox even helps Ben escape from Anur Phaetos. After Ben defeated Vilgax, Psyphon steals the energy core to power up the Null Void Projector, Paradox then appears and tells Ben that it is time to use Alien X.

Personality
Paradox is described as a calm, free-going man. He talks much like a stereotypical scientist, with dialogue requiring higher knowledge to understand completely. In his first appearance, Ben (as Swampfire) tried to capture Paradox (not knowing whether he was an enemy or not) but he always "teleports" to a place a few meters away. Ben asks how does he do that and the calm Paradox just said: "It's called walking". He really likes gumballs possibly because they virtually don't age. He also has a habit of getting events that haven't happened yet (from the perspective of the viewer and those he's talking to) and those that have (from his perspective) mixed up, due to his travels through time. His calm personality also makes it difficult to tell when he's joking or not, such as telling Kevin that if his replacement car (factory new from the past) comes in contact with anything else from the same year it'll explode like antimatter.

Powers and Abilities
Due to his entrapment, Paradox knows how the space-time continuum works, allowing him to teleport to any location, both in time and space, slow down or speed up time as he pleases, giving him near limitless power, though he states there are places he cannot go and things he cannot do, though what restricts him is not yet explained. His abilities are not limited to this universe, having apparently been to other universes and the space in between. He is able to regress a person's age but seems incapable of doing it on something mechanical, instead having to pull it physically out of the past. He can also manipulate his personal time to make it appear as if he is moving (to everyone else's perspective) at superhuman speeds, but is actually just manipulating time around him and is still moving (in his perspective) at a normal velocity. He is capable of teleporting people, objects and even places like the Forge of Creation to almost any destination instantaneously. He can channel his abilities through an old pocket watch that he carries around. However, he does have to follow certain rules; for example, he cannot bring the past and future versions of an individual together unless absolutely necessary.

Additionally, his time travel powers have left him biologically immortal, with no need to eat or sleep. He is also capable of reverting Ben from an alien back to his human form and presumably vice versa. He also displays the ability to break the fourth wall, likely because his knowledge about the time-space continuum allows him to realize that he is a mere cartoon character.

Trivia

 * Paradox cannot go within 500 light years of any Celestialsapien.
 * In his first appearance, Paradox said he had met up with Ben's future self at one time, and he also chooses to use Swampfire. Ironically, in every episode Paradox has actually made an appearance in, Swampfire has appeared as well.
 * Azmuth calls Paradox by the name Time-walker. He was also called as that by Serena in The Forge Of Creation and by Eon in Ben 10000 Returns.
 * Because of the nature of his abilities, it is difficult to tell exactly what order the events of he series take place, from his perspective. During his introductory episode he was already familiar with Ben, Gwen and Kevin, and later events in the series. His first meeting with them (from his perspective) has yet to be seen. During most of his appearances, he alludes to, or gives cryptic warnings of, later events in the series, only to then show up at those events, and remind the team of his past allusion, and warnings.
 * It is true that Paradox is supposed to be a parody of or is inspired by The Doctor (especially the Tenth Doctor) of the British television show Doctor Who. Dwayne McDuffie has confirmed this. They have similar traits, for instance, their dislike of guns. Also you will notice in the flashbacks he was called Doctor before he forgot his name. Another one, On his first appearance he was carrying around a bag of gumballs, which is just like the bag of jelly babies(gummy candy) that the 4th Doctor carries around. One difference between them, though, is that while the Doctor does not believe in magic, Paradox does (as seen in Time Heals).
 * Paradox said he got bored with being insane so he decided to go sane and learn.
 * The title Paradox or sometimes "Professor Paradox", was given to him by Gwen when they first met (by the trio's perspective). After an eternity alone, he had forgotten his own name. Gwen came up with the name because his experiment was listed as the Paradox Project. The file with the information censored every aspect of the professor's personal life, name included.
 * Paradox has a occurring joke of breaking the fourth wall. When he acknowledged that the commercials were about to begin by saying "We'll come back right over there." and pointing to the location in which they did, indeed, return from the commercials. Also in The Forge of Creation, when Azmuth start to say how Ben would be fortunate in his future, Paradox interrupted him, stating that it was a "spoiler."
 * Like the previously mentioned Doctor Who references. In the second most recent series, the 10th and 11th Doctor meet River Song, a recurring character who was from his future though he knew nothing about her. Whenever he asked her a question about the future or start talking about "her future" which was his past (The two living in a reverse timeline) she like paradox would interrupt and say "Spoilers"
 * The pop-up version of Ben 10: Race Against Time states that Paradox also stopped Eon prior to the events of the film.
 * Paradox bears a strong resemblance to Devin Levin, Kevin's deceased father (however they can't be related as Paradox is a full human and Devin was a full Osmosian).
 * He is voiced by veteran actor David McCallum (NCIS, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Watcher in the Woods, The Great Escape).
 * Paradox even seems to talk exactly like Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard from the NCIS series.
 * Perplexahedron revealed that, at some point in his career, Paradox made the acquaintance of a young Max Tennyson, getting to know him well enough to pass on stories of his legendary exploits.
 * In his debut episode, Paradox was referred to as a "doctor" in the flashbacks. But in every other episode, he is referred to as a "professor".
 * In the episode Ultimate Aggregor, when he tells Kevin to always remember his friends, he was referring to the events of The Forge of Creation when Kevin was mutated.
 * In Ben 10,000 Returns, Paradox revealed that there were many parallel versions of their universe, existing in cross-time.
 * Paradox is Dwayne McDuffie's favorite character.
 * Like Gwen said, Paradox only appear in very important "moments" (War of The Worlds, Ultimate Aggregor, Forge of Creation and Ben 10,000 Returns), and in "time menaces" (Time Heals and Ben 10,000 Returns).
 * It is hinted in Ben 10,000 Returns that Paradox may have an individual or group to respond to if he abuses his powers. In the same episode he also mentions that there are rules that he must follow such as not bringing the past and future versions of the same person together unless there is a good reason.