Ben Tennyson (Classic)

Benjamin "Ben" Kirby Tennyson was a normal ten-year-old kid until he found the Omnitrix, a powerful watch-like device that allowed him to turn into different aliens around the universe. Though initially immature and clumsy, he grew to be a true hero. By the time he was sixteen, he had become famous in not only his hometown of Bellwood, but on Earth and beyond. Ben has also been deputized by the Plumbers and gained more aliens as time progressed. Ben has obtained an honorary college degree from Friedkin University.

Appearance
Ben's physical appearance has changed throughout the series from a ten-year-old to a sixteen-year-old. However, he retains some recurring characteristics. He has shaggy brown hair, green eyes, pale skin, and he's quite skinny for his age, though he shows a lot of muscle definition due to being athletic.

When he was 5, as revealed in a flashback of how he first met his future frenemy Mr. Baumann, Ben wore green overalls with a white shirt underneath it. White numbers saying "5 1/2" where on a black square in front of his overalls.

In the original series and Omniverse flashbacks, Ben's usual clothes consists of a black-striped, white shirt with short sleeves, military green cargo pants and black and white sneakers with black stripes. Ben wears the prototype Omnitrix on his left wrist.

In Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, Ben wears a black shirt, blue pants and a green jacket with white stripes and the number 10 on it, and black shoes. Ben wears the prototype Omnitrix in Alien Force and the Ultimatrix in Ultimate Alien on his left wrist.

In Omniverse, Ben wears a shirt which is black and has a green stripe in the middle with a white 10 and green stripes on the sides of his shirt. He wears brown cargo pants with pockets at the knees and green and white shoes. He later gains a white hooded jacket with green stripes on both arms and a green number 10 on the right side. He wears the Omnitrix on his left wrist.

Personality
Initially cocky, childish and arrogant, Ben's immaturity and attention-seeking behavior often led him to joke around, regardless of the situation. His allies often criticized his attitude, unaware of the fact that he used humor to mask his fears. Despite some childish attitude, he was heroic, caring and generally good-natured, always willing to save others at any time.

Over the years, Ben has displayed good leadership skills, as well as the ability to adapt his attitude to a situation, becoming serious when it's called for. He became more mature, responsible and sensible. He's kind-hearted, willing to sacrifice even his own life for others. His idealistic views and unwillingness to compromise his values - aspects condemned by Azmuth, yet commended by others - sometimes drive him to act against reason, such as helping his enemies if they need it (most remarkably Vilgax). Professor Paradox has praised Ben's good nature, going so far as to say he had the gift to make the right choices at the right moments.

However, when Ben fails to save someone, or if someone gets hurt because of his failures, he becomes angry and much more violent. Perhaps the most notable of these instances is when Kevin willingly mutated himself to succeed where Ben had failed and stop Aggregor, Ben was set on killing Kevin, even fighting Gwen when she refused to help him. He also threatened to hunt down destroy the Forever Knights once making Driscoll promise to cease the hunting of aliens.

Though often stated to be silly or unintelligent because of his immaturity, Ben is actually shown to be cunning and resourceful when needed, quickly adapting when the Omnitrix doesn't provide him with the alien he wanted.

Later on, Ben starts thinking of himself as more of a superhero than a Plumber, often remarking that he's not a cop, but a superhero. Although he once again became cocky, he retained his selfless and heroic nature.

Five years prior to Omniverse
In A Jolt from the Past, Ben as Stinkfly fought a Megawhatt. After reverting, he grabs a Mr. Smoothy cup and traps the Megawhatt in it. Thinking that he has won, the Megawhatt escapes the cup and duplicates. Ben remembers he has Feedback and turns into him. He sucks the energy out of the Megawhatts, which make them go to sleep.

In Trouble Helix, the Tennysons meet Malware, an incomplete Galvanic Mechamorph accidentally created by Azmuth, who loses his patience and kidnaps Albedo, Azmuth's assistant to complete himself. Eventually, he is turned into a more powerful form but he is defeated by Diamondhead.

In The More Things Change: Part 1, Ben as Four Arms fought Malware. While at first it appeared that Ben was winning, Malware managed to grab the Omnitrix and forced Ben to revert to human. Malware confronted Ben and taunted him about his defeat, which allowed just enough time for the Omnitrix to activate again. Ben transformed into Feedback and used his energy absorbing and redirecting powers to quickly defeat Malware. During the fight, Malware successfully created a blueprint by absorbing Omnitrix.

In Of Predators and Prey: Part 2, Ben battles Phil who is being used as a test subject for the Nemetrix.

In Malefactor, Ben, along with Max and Gwen visit the Plumber base in Mt. Rushmore. There, they are attacked by Malware who is seemingly defeated by a Tachyon Cannon. However this just transforms him into a more powerful version of him. He gets defeated, although, he was just a distraction so that Khyber can sample a rare Psycholeopterran.

In Ben Again, while battling Eon, 11 year old Ben's mind gets switched with his 16 year old self. As 16 year old Ben, he finds the clues laid down by the 16 year old Ben who is inhabiting 11 year old Ben's body. 11 year old Ben manages to get his body back and defeats Eon.

In Showdown: Part 2, because of his constant use of Feedback, Azmuth comes to Earth to warn Ben that this is affecting his other transformations. Ignoring him, Ben prepares to fight Malware who has returned. This results in Feedback being destroyed and Malware being seemingly killed when he is overloaded by the Omnitrix's energy. Ben eventually forgives his future self and this allows 16 year old Ben to regain Feedback.

In Special Delivery, in a flashback, Ben accidentally throws Mr. Baumann's truck into space as Way Big during a fight against Dr. Animo and his Mutant Mosquito.

In Mud Is Thicker Than Water, Ben tricks Gwen into disliking their cousin Lucy by putting sludge all over her comb.

In The Vengers, Ben saves the people from an exploding building and captures Kangaroo Kommando as XLR8. With this Ben makes new enemies, in the forms of Captain Nemesis who sees him as a rival and Will Harangue who sees him as a vigilante.

In Weapon XI: Part 2, Ben and Gwen fight the Amalgam Kids and Kevin who once again absorbs the Omnitrix's feedback and turns into an alien hybrid. Argit knocks out Kevin and they all return to the Null Void.

In From Hedorium to Eternity, Ben, Gwen, Lucy, Cooper and Jonesy meet Kevin underground and together stop Zs'Skayr and his Ectonurite minions from taking over the planet. Ben learns to trust Kevin but he once again gets stucked in the Null Void.

Powers and Abilities
Ben has been trained in hand-to-hand combat by black belt Gwen, Max, as well as various years fighting aliens, and received a basic Plumber training. He proved to be quite skilled in basic hand-to-hand combat as well armed and unarmed combat, being able to easily dodge shots from Manny's blasters and proceed to disarm him while in human form. Ben was able to hold his own against Pierce, and Max hinted that Ben was a highly skilled fighter, even as a human. Another hint of his exceptional hand-to-hand skill is when he succeeded in the Plumbers' Academy with a 95 out of a 100. He is also shown to be a crafty fighter and actually uses freestyle fighting.

It's evident that Ben is smart in some respects, possessing an above average intelligence. It was even stated by Gwen that he really isn't working up to his potential at school. He also has fairly moderate grades. Physics and Chemistry are his toughest subjects, yet he still maintains a B+ average.

Ben has a good memory, as he was perfectly capable of remembering and writing down the mystic rune-like symbols for entering the inter-dimensional realm of Ledgerdomain with just one glance from a distance.

Ben is also a cross dominant, skillfully wielding tools and weapons in either hand, in human or alien form.

Equipment
Ben is the wielder of the Omnitrix (formerly the Ultimatrix and first Omnitrix), which gave him the power to modify his own genetic code in order to turn into various alien creatures. Traditionally, he could only transform into ten aliens at the beginning of both the original series and Alien Force, but he later gains additional forms by either unlocking them or by scanning the DNA of aliens he meets.

When transforming into an alien, Ben gets all the creature's features, including its appearance, voice, all of its unique and special abilities and powers, strengths and weaknesses. Though he mostly retains his personality, there are some cases where the transformation causes change in it, like with Rath and Jury Rigg.

Though he usually uses his alien forms to fight, he can impersonate aliens as he did with Water Hazard to convince P'andor to go home, and though he was unsuccessful at convincing him, P'andor believed him to be Bivalvan.

In addition to transforming into aliens, the Ultimatrix included what is referred as an "evolutionary function," that allowed Ben to evolve his alien forms in order to get upgraded versions of them, referred to as Ultimate Forms.

In addition to the primary transformations and evolutionary function, the Omnitrixes and Ultimatrix can both be used for various purposes. Both have a built in Universal Translator that allows Ben to communicate with most aliens that don't speak English.

The prototype Omnitrix displayed the ability to manipulate and repair genetic damage, a function he used to cure DNAliens and save the Highbreed from extinction. Azmuth also mentioned that Ben could use the prototype Omnitrix to bring back to life any species stored on Primus.

The Omnitrix also has a failsafe to help prevent Ben from dying. If Ben is in mortal danger and the Omnitrix is in recharge mode, it will automatically go into active mode.

Weaknesses
Whenever the Omnitrix times out, Ben is left powerless until he either dodges or switches to a new alien form. In addition to gaining the selected alien's powers, he gains its weaknesses. Additionally, at times the natural biological behavior of certain aliens can override Ben's behavior, such as Big Chill's reproductive phase or Swampfire's blossoming process. Furthermore, any illness Ben is experiencing in his human form will also be affect his alien forms.

Whenever Ben unlocks a new alien form, he is at a disadvantage of not knowing its abilities and weaknesses until he gains experience with using the new alien.

Despite his experience in using the Omnitrixes and Ultimatrix, Ben still does not know every function of them. Due to his inquisitive nature and impatience, he has accidentally unlocked new functions such as the Master Control and the randomizer, which can at times do more harm than good.

Though the current Omnitrix is designed to work only for him, Ben still has not mastered it. According to Azmuth, Ben may get the Master Control on his 18th birthday.

The Omnitrix does not actually mistransform, but rather it is due to Ben hitting the Omnitrix too hard, thereby causing the time-out function to select another alien at random.

Ben has an allergy to peanuts and has a fear of peacocks. He also has coulrophobia, the fear of clowns.

Ben's left eye twitches whenever he tells a lie, but only Kevin appears to notice this.

Ben appears to have a short attention span at times, and more often than not it can get him into trouble.

Though he has matured substantially since receiving the original Omnitrix, he is still a teenager with much to learn and is prone to irrational impulses and recklessness.

Appearances
Ben has been in every episode and short except of the what if episodes, Gwen 10 and Goodbye and Good Riddance. To see specifics, look at the following episode guides and in-franchise movies:
 * Ben 10/Episodes
 * Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix
 * Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens
 * Ben 10: Alien Force/Episodes
 * Ben 10: Alien Swarm
 * Ben 10: Ultimate Alien/Episodes
 * Ben 10-Generator Rex: Heroes United
 * Ben 10: Omniverse/Episodes

Ben has appeared in every comic book, except for Old Friends and It's a Set Up.

MAD
Ben appeared briefly in a snippet of the new Cartoon Network show, Mad. They were doing a Star Trek parody and the crew was watching Ben 10 on their screen.

Then, they did another parody, but this time with Benjamin Franklin.

They later did a Cowboys and Aliens parody. In Cowboys and Alien Force, Jedediah Benjamin Tennyson wakes up on the left side of Jake Lonergan saying he has no pants and gets punched by Jake. A cowboy said that Jake was wearing Ben's pants, his hat and his Omnitrix. Jake presses the Omnitrix, turning into an alien similar to Diamondhead or Chromastone and he crushed the cowboy with its hand. The Omnitrix in this episode is more like a square and does not have the black and green color sequence.

South Park
In the South Park episode "You're Getting Old," Cartman's Mom mentioned that Cartman gets upset when he doesn't get a present every time someone else gets a present at a party. One of the presents Cartman gets is a "Ben 10 Wrist Rocket."

Robot Chicken
Ben made an appearance in the fifth episode of the sixth season of Robot Chicken, Hurtled from a Helicopter into a Speeding Train, where Ben is just turning 14.

Uncle Grandpa
Ben, among other Cartoon Network characters, made a cameo watching an awards show hosted by Uncle Grandpa. Omniverse Ben, who did not speak, was shown to be annoyed by a lame joke that Uncle Grandpa made.

Video Games
Ben appears in every Ben 10 video game (playable) because he is the main character of the Ben 10 series. Ben is also seen in the crossover Video game Punch Time Explosion and Explosion XL.

Ben 10: Protector of Earth
While Ben is sleeping at the Grand Canyon, Vilgax extracts DNA of the Omnitrix. Ben travels about United States to retrieve all parts of the Omnitrix.

Ben starts with Heatblast and Four Arms. But later obtains XLR8, Cannonbolt, Wildvine and Perk Upchuck (DS if player cheats). Later, he unlocks the Master Control.

Ben 10: Cosmic Destruction
Ben confronts a new villain, Evil Way Big. To defeat him, Ben looks for parts of the Potis Altiare's located in places around the world. In The Final Battle with Evil Way Big, Ben puts the Potis Altiare together and uses it as Way Big. Later during the Battle, Way Big uses a very powerful cosmic ray and sends Evil Way Big to space.

Ben uses the Ultimatrix, but has access one group of aliens: See Here

Punch Time Explosion
Ben hunts down Vilgax, the latter conquers Chowder's Universe. Ben later teams up with other cartoon network characters to hunt down Vilgax throughout other universes. He is the first usable character.
 * Swampfire (standard attack)
 * Big Chill (up/extra jump attack)
 * AmpFibian (down attack)
 * Humungousaur (side attack)
 * Ultimate Humungousaur (Punch Time Explosion)

Punch Time Explosion
In this game, nothing is much different in the story line. However, young Ben Tennyson is available as a playable character, even though he does not appear in the story line. Young Ben doesn't appear in the story line, but is also playable. He costs 1500, which is more than the average character, making him more rare.
 * Heatblast (up/extra jump attack)
 * XLR8 (side attack)
 * Cannonbolt (down attack)
 * Wildvine (standard attack)
 * Four Arms (Punch Time Explosion)

Cartoon Network Online Games

 * FusionFall (NPC)
 * Project Exonaut (NPC)
 * Formula Cartoon (NPC) (Young Ben)
 * TKO (only in alien forms)

Relationships With Other Characters
See Relationships with other characters

Etymology
Benjamin is a name from the Hebrew name בִּנְיָמִין (Binyamin) which means "son of the south" or "son of the right hand" going back into the Tanakh (called the Hebrew Bible by Christian scholars), a name of one of the sons of Jacob. His name, "Ben," is to create a rhyming effect between his first name and the number Ten.

His middle name, Kirby, was named as reference to comic book artist Jack Kirby, according to Derrick J. Wyatt.

His last name, Tennyson, meaning the Son of Tenny. The "Tenny" part is a reference to the series name, "Ben Ten".

Trivia

 * According to Azmuth and Professor Paradox, Ben will have a glorious future.
 * According to Natalie Tennyson, Ben does not have good table manners.
 * According to Gwen, when Ben was 10, he was sleeping with his teddy bear, called "Furry Freddy." However, Ben defended himself saying that Furry Freddy has his own bed, which happens to be right next to Ben's.
 * According to Rook, Ben's history is now required reading at the Plumbers' Academy. It comprises approximately a "chapter and a half."
 * Ben and Gwen share the same birthday.
 * According to Rook, Gwen's birthday is in December, which would put Ben's in December too.
 * Ben used to shout the names of his aliens to strike fear into his opponents.
 * Ben's worst subject is Physics.
 * Ben passed the 3rd grade by choosing C for all the answers on multiple choice tests.
 * Ben has confirmed that his favorite color is green, favorite food is Chili Fries, favorite hobby is collecting Sumo Slammers, his worst fear is peacocks, and his first crush was Patty Berkinfield from 3rd grade, as well as the fact he has a scar on his body in the shape of New Jersey.
 * Ben has a habit of referring to other members of his Omnitrix aliens' species by the names he gives his aliens.
 * According to Azmuth and Sir George, Ben is the same as they were when they were young.