Kevin Levin (Classic)

Kevin Ethan Levin, AKA Kevin 11 AKA Kevin E. Levin, is a human/Osmosian hybrid with the ability to absorb any type of energy or matter and release it at will. He first appeared in the original series and quickly became one of Ben's most notable nemeses. However, he reformed in Ben 10: Alien Force, and then became one of the main hero characters.

Ben 10
Kevin is first encountered by Ben in an arcade, where, after befriending him, he was assaulted by bullies and saved by Ben as XLR8. The two attempt to steal video games from a warehouse and get caught by the police, forcing Ben to reveal his powers to him in order to escape. Eventually, Ben breaks off their partnership when Kevin rigs two trains (one carrying money and one carrying people) to collide, not caring that hundreds of innocent people would be killed. Ben became Heatblast to stop Kevin, but to even the odds, Kevin grabs onto Heatblast and absorbs his powers, changing him into an incomplete version of Heatblast. When Ben foils Kevin's plans and escapes, Kevin leaves to use his new powers to get revenge on the bullies that picked on him. But Kevin's new powers disappear and changes back to his regular form. When Ben shows up as Four Arms to stop Kevin, Kevin absorbs Four Arms' power and changes into an incomplete version of Four Arms. As Ben and Kevin fight, Ben gains the victory and offers Kevin a new home and a chance to be a good guy. Kevin accepts, but Ben realizes he lied and Kevin tries to take the Omnitrix off of Ben, but feedback from it changes Kevin back to normal and appears to be depleting his powers. He escapes and at the end of the episode reveals he still has Heatblast's powers.

Kevin serves as the main antagonist of the second season. His ability to project heat at the end of Kevin 11 is a result of the Omnitrix's feedback pulse: the amount of energy it emitted allowed him to fully absorb its powers, giving him access to every alien form Ben had at the time. However, because Kevin's ability to regulate this power is poorer than that of the Omnitrix itself, the energy suppresses his human form and forces him to remain as an alien most of the time:

As revealed in Framed, Kevin blamed Ben for this, so he used the powers of the Omnitrix to start a crime spree in Los Angeles, both for his own benefit and to damage Ben's (or rather, his alien forms') reputation. Eventually, Kevin's ability to regulate the power fails altogether, causing him to permanently mutate into what Vilgax would describe as a "misshapen, chaotic amalgam of creatures from the Omnitrix." This form has: Four Arms' head, body, left eyes, legs and feet, Grey Matter's right eye, Upgrade's upper back, Heatblast's left arm, Diamondhead's right arm, Wildmutt's arms below them, XLR8's tail, Stinkfly's wings, Ripjaws' antenna, gills, and teeth and Ghostfreak's black lines running along his chest. Because of this, Kevin fights Ben and as he was about to kill him, Lt. Steel from the Special Alien Capture Team shoots him into the water and is presumed dead, but at the end of the episode, he is revealed to be alive.


 * After his mutation, Kevin 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). He has Stinkfly's ability to fly spit slime, Diamondhead's diamond ability with his right arm, Four Arms' strength, Wildmutt's sniffing ability, XLR8's speed, Heatblast's ability to shoot fire out of his left arm, Ripjaws' bitting and unhingeable jaw (possibly also his ability to breathe underwater because he also has Ripjaws' gills), and Upgrade's laser vision, though Kevin does not have all of the powers of the Omnitrix aliens he copied, e.g. he does not have Grey Matter's intelligence, Upgrade's ability to take control of machines, and Ghostfreak's ability to turn invisible and intangible. Despite Kevin's claim, Ben notes that Kevin's powers are only one-tenth as strong, as seen when Diamondhead was able to easily catch and crush one of Kevin's crystals with his bare hands (this assessment is proven correct in Ultimate Alien as Aggregor stated that when Osmosians absorb the life force of other beings they only gain 1/10th of that being's powers), and Kevin never exhibits his original power in this form.

During his third appearance in Grudge Match, Kevin attacked Ben to get revenge, blaming his condition on him. As the two battled, they were abducted and forced to fight in Slix Vigma's gladiator games. During their battles, Ben helped Kevin to realize the advantages of his mutated form: because Kevin 11 was an amalgam of aliens, he could mix and match their powers to make up for their reduced potency. Although forced to work together, Kevin's only goal was killing Ben. After Ben and Kevin succeeded in escaping, Kevin attacked Ben and pinned him to the wall with Stinkfly goo before moving in with a Diamondhead spear, gloating that no matter what alien Ben transformed into, he knew every one of them. Little did he know that Ben had discoverd there were more aliens in the Omnitrix and had unlocked Cannonbolt, whom he transformed into just as Kevin was about to skewer him before getting into an escape pod. Kevin nearly barged into the pod when he was stopped by Technorg, whom Ben had spared and he declared a life debt to. After Technorg helped Ben escape, he turned his attention to Kevin (who had called him a lap dog just as he was about to kill Ben). The two were transported to a different galaxy at the end of the episode while locked in combat. According to the advanced edition of the episode, after beating Kevin, Technorg left the ship to return to his homeworld while Kevin took the ship as his own.

Kevin returned in the episode Back With a Vengeance, where he teamed up with Vilgax to defeat Ben, and eventually managed to remove the Omnitrix with Vilgax's help. However, he betrayed Vilgax later in an attempt to leave both Ben and Vilgax in the Null Void and use the Omnitrix to take over the world, only for Ben to escape and leave him and Vilgax trapped instead. Kevin spent the rest of the series in the Null Void.

A dream version of Kevin appears in Perfect Day, as a hall monitor of a dream version of Ben's school. In the dream, Kevin was human but then changed into his mutated form (which appeared uglier than it used to be, probably an exaggeration of Ben's fear of Kevin) and fought Ben. When Ben took control of the dream, he was then able to defeat the dream version of Kevin in one fell swoop.

Ben 10: Alien Force
Kevin comes back in Ben 10: Alien Force, where he was eventually released from the Null Void (he stated in Darkstar Rising that he did his time for his crimes) returned to his human form, and grows into a tall and fit young man who reconciled with his family. He has also become an alien weapons dealer, giving him several contacts with criminals (such as Argit, Vulkanus and Sunder the Retriver) as well as a considerable knowledge in alien tech. He has also regained his ability to absorb solid matter.

In his first Alien Force appareance, Kevin attempted to organize a deal between the Forever Knights and the DNAliens in order to sell them level 5 weapons. However, the deal was interrupted by Magister Labrid, Ben and Gwen. Trying to get revenge, Kevin fought Ben, but was easily defeated while the other villains escaped without paying him. Labrid then forced Kevin to help them in finding back the weapon, offering him to avoid problems with the Plumbers then. Though Kevin mainly accepted in order to get his pay, Magister Labrid later sacrified himself in order to save him from a defective weapon's explosion. This, plus Kevin's interest for Gwen and his desire to become a Plumber like his father was, led him to agree to teaming up with Ben and Gwen against the HighBreed invasion. Though he initially still felt a little rancorous toward Ben, Kevin slowly reconciled with him, and he proved to be a valuable ally as well as a good friend. Despite his reformation, Kevin still tends to engage in unethical activities: he is not above stealing gold and jewelry from the Forever Knights and Plumbers equipment from Manny Armstrong and Helen Wheels when presented with the opportunity ("Ben 10 Returns"; "Plumber's Helpers"); attempts to sell the Rust Bucket to Vulkanus for alien technology, albeit technology he intended to give to Ben ("Kevin's Big Score"); and conspires with Argit to sell weapons to both sides of a warring race ("Simple").

In Darkstar Rising, he reveals that his father was also a Plumber. He never met his father, but his mother told Kevin stories about what his father did. This is a big gap in the original series because in Ben 10, he said that his parents both left him because of his strange electrical powers but it may have only been an exaggeration on his part. It is also possible that after the death of his father, his mother couldn't cope and Kevin then somehow ended up in foster care, and that it was these parents that left him.

At the end of the same episode, Kevin, along with Gwen and Ben became official Plumbers, after which Kevin leaves to tell his mother about his membership, this suggests that he has now reconciled and rejoined with his family. Also in Darkstar Rising, when explaining that he wanted to be a Plumber for the sake of being just like his father, it "mostly" served as the reason that he joined the Tennysons in the first place (his promise to Magister Labrid and Gwen could be the other reasons). It was clearly implied his mother remarried after his real father's death, which could explain why he was kicked out of his house when he was 11.

In the season 3 premiere, Vengeance of Vilgax, Kevin changed clothes and was subjected to a feedback pulse from the Omnitrix after Ben tampered with it. Because of this, he was unable to revert back to his normal human form, instead becoming a mixture of different elements. Throughout the series he was shown to hate what he has become, to the extent of breaking things off with Gwen, wearing an I.D. Mask in public to appear human, and considering himself a monster. He also discovered that his father Devin Levin, an Osmosian Plumber, was murdered by an alien criminal named Ragnarok, and became bent on vengeance, so much so that he eventually left Ragnarok to his death when he had the chance to save him.

In the series finale The Final Battle, where Vilgax attempted to separate Ben from his friends, Kevin was kidnapped by Albedo in an attempt to split them up. He was also asked by Ben to back him up when taking on Vilgax, which he did. After Ben's Omnitrix was destroyed, he reverted back to human form, revealing that it was the Omnitrix's power that kept him that way.

Ben 10: Alien Swarm

In Ben 10: Alien Swarm, the live-action movie, Kevin is seen driving around with his car. The car is a green 2009 Dodge Challenger.

Also he is seen in his human form, with his Season 1-2 clothes and regular absorbing powers. Also when he absorbs solid objects, his voice sounds distorted. Near the climax he switches to his season 3 clothes revealing that they're a uniform for the garage built on top of a Plumber's base as cover.

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
Kevin returns in Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, going back to his original Alien Force appearance, clothes and powers. According to Dwayne McDuffie, part of the series features more about his past (from the original series to be precise). Kevin still has the ability to change his hands into different weapons even after he returned to normal in Alien Force.

In Too Hot To Handle, Kevin is able to repair objects in the current matter he has absorbed by turning it into a liquid and then hardening it again.

In Fused, he admits he was selfish when he first met Ben. He also risked his life to save Ben from being taken over by Ra'ad. He also learns that there is another Osmosian named Aggregor. While never explained, Kevin shows sympathy to him though it could be possible the connection is because they are of the same race.

In Ultimate Aggregor, he shows his knack for detective work, and later warned by Professor Paradox to remember who his friends are. He explains to Aggregor that the reason that he was a villain in the original series is that when Osmosians absorb raw energy, they become insane.

In Map of Infinity, Kevin continues to focus on stopping Aggregor (but not more than Ben), Kevin is easily defeated by Aggregor since his powers have increased, Kevin also seemed to know about the Map of Infinity saying he did not exist, the group go in search of the first part of the Map, Kevin wears a Plumbers' Suit, unlike any other Plumbers' Suits, that Kevin had a little white glove and a circle over the glove (which gives access to Ultimatrix of Ben), possibly this glove is for Kevin to use his powers, he proves to be very strong when a giant hammer crushes the group on a wall, he survived and managed to save the group emove the hammer from the wall.

In Deep, we see Kevin using your Plumbers' Suit with your electricity habilities, he has great skills with the rays, the Suit is destroyed again Kevin, but it absorbs the matter of his jet, Kevin still can not breathe one Little Fish gives you a "helmet" for him to breathe, in the core Kevin takes the Little Fish from his head, Kevin also finds and tries to fight Aggregor it to retrieve the second part of Map of Infinity, unfortunately it is easily defeated by the electric powers of Aggregor, Aggregor still says that next time Kevin should try a better absorption, and runs away with the second part of Map of Infinity, leaving Kevin with anger, Kevin leaves the Little Fish (who liked to Kevin) in Piscciss and Kevin is "comforted" by Gwen at the end.

Powers and Abilities
Kevin's powers generally revolve around absorption, either of energy or of matter. In Ben 10, Kevin can absorb energy and manipulate machinery to a minor extent though the energy he uses is finite, so he is required to steal more. By absorbing energy from the Omnitrix, Kevin can temporarily take on attributes of any alien form Ben has currently taken on.

In Framed, it is revealed that Kevin is able to assume any of Ben's starter alien forms at will for as long as he wants without first changing back to human, due to having absorbed sufficient energy from the Omnitrix. Despite this advantage over Ben, he is still defeated. The rage causes his absorption power to spiral out of control, mutating him into a hulking behemoth fusion compromised of the ten starter Omnitrix aliens with no way to revert back to human form. He remains in this form for the remainder of Ben 10. According to the enhanced version of Framed, Kevin's human DNA restores itself over time. It is revealed in Ultimate Aggregor that when an under-developed Osmosian absorbs energy, especially from a being's DNA (like the Omnitrix or the Andromeda Aliens), it causes their minds to become insane, much like what happened to Kevin and it explains why he was evil in the original series.





In Ben 10: Alien Force (5 years after the original series), Kevin returns in human form with his absorption powers intact. However, he is now also able to absorb the properties of materials into his own being (e.g iron, copper, rock, nickel), transmuting himself into a living form of whatever material he has absorbed and subsequently use it to proportionately increase his physical strength and durability. It is revealed in the episode All That Glitters that the transmutation actually serves as a second skin/coating that eventually peels away as he takes damage. However, while fighting a Techadon, the war robot blasted a hole straight through Kevin in rock/concrete form, but he demonstrated minor regenerative abilities by absorbing metal to cover the hole. In the episode Plumbers' Helpers, Kevin can absorb multiple materials at once, as demonstrated by absorbing both nickel, copper and zinc (from loose change in his pocket). He requires a decent amount of material to completely encase himself. This ability has once been used productively when Kevin was forced to synthesize a coating of a living gem known as Taedinite, thus incapacitating him; Vulkanus mentioned that it's the rarest gem in the galaxy, and with the amount he chipped off from Kevin he was able to buy a permit to "renovate" the earth, and Paradox mentioned in Vilgax Attacks that with the amount Vulkanus chipped off of Kevin he has the largest stash in the galaxy.

In the Alien Force season 3 premiere, Kevin loses the ability to revert to his human form after a feedback blast, caused when Ben tampers with the Omnitrix and Kevin tries to remove it to help Ben, imprinting various materials onto him, such as concrete, metal, wood, and what appears to be Diamondhead crystals or quite possibly Taedenite crystals from Kevin's Big Score. In addition, Kevin gains enhanced strength and endurance and limited shape shifting abilities, seen when he shifts his hands into a variety of different tools, such as a mace and large clippers. In The Final Battle: Part 2, he was turned back to normal and got his old powers back after the Omnitrix self-destructed. In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Kevin was shown to be able to still shapeshift his arms into weapons after his mutation is reversed. Dwayne McDuffie revealed the reason for this is due to him now having knowledge of doing so. In Too Hot To Handle, Kevin's abilties have shown to develop more, allowing him to manipulate whatever substance he has absorbed, as shown when he repaired the rock ceiling of a mine, fused the seal of P'andor's suit, and morphed it around P'andor and fused the arms together as makeshift handcuffs.

Alien Knowledge
In addition to his powers, Kevin, as of Alien Force, has gained a considerable amount of knowledge about alien tech thanks to his involvement in the alien black market, making him the team expert in this area. Not only does he have great knowledge in technology, he also has great deductive skills, having been able to determine specificaly what happened in a battle between Aggregor and the Plumbers several hours after the battle, greatly impressing his friends and even gaining a compliment from an experienced Max.

In episode Deep, when Kevin, Ben, and Gwen travel to planet piscciss, an event occurs when a large sea creature attacks their ship and steals Gwen. Him and Ben both argue that they both cannot use their powers while being in their plumber suits. So Kevin claims that he made some 'alterations' to the suits, saying that he equipped them with propelling units and neural shock pulsers allowing them to attack with electric shocks with every blow they make.

Trivia

 * Although it looks like Kevin has black hair, it is really raven-colored.
 * In the Alien Force season 2 finale War of the Worlds: Part 1, it is revealed that Kevin's middle name is Ethan, making his full name Kevin E. Levin, officially connecting the pun to his old nickname "Kevin 11". Ben finds this extremely hilarious, saying that he has lost "all remaining pretense of cool".
 * He is part Osmosian. Even though his parents supposedly abandoned him (this may be a lie Kevin invented to impress Ben, because he doesn't answer to anybody) Kevin's mother is still around as shown at the end of Darkstar Rising, when he tells Ben and Gwen that he will tell his mother about his new Plumber's Badge, and at the beginning of Vendetta, where Kevin's mom made her first appearance on the show.
 * Kevin has been unable to transform back to his human form twice. Both times were from tampering with the Omnitrix.
 * Like Ben, Kevin is a big fan of Sumo Slammers, as he is thrilled when Ben tells him there is going to be a Sumo Slammers Movie in the episode Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 1, though later he calls it boring and acts as if he had never seen it. He also may have grown out of it (but is still fond of the idea of a Sumo Slammers Movie). It is notable that the first time Ben and Kevin worked together in Kevin 11, they attempted to break into a warehouse to steal the new, unreleased, Sumo Slammers video game together.
 * In Con of Rath, during a battle with Vulkanus he reveals that he has dreams where he is confronted by his old enemies who try to hurt him. He assumes that everybody has dreams like that, only to discover he was mistaken when Gwen says "I don't have dreams like that."
 * Interestingly, Kevin's hometown is Bellwood, the same as Ben's even though in the episode Kevin 11 he lives in New York City. The enhanced version of the episode Kevin 11 revealed that when Kevin ran away he stole a bike, the lock to which he was wearing around his neck at the time of the episode.
 * Kevin was stuck in his mutated form in Alien Force because of the Omnitrix. After the Omnitrix has self-destructed, he was turned back to normal.
 * Kevin's powers are similar to the Marvel villain, the Absorbing Man. However, unlike him, Kevin only becomes a solid form of whatever he absorbs, coating him with a protective layer of said material. The Absorbing Man was actually able to become what he touched and manipulate his new form any way he wished. Additionally, during Kevin' mutations, he is similar to the DC hero, Metamorpho. Both had the ability to reshape their bodies as they wished, being comprised of different elements that can be manipulated. However, Kevin was only solids, while Metamorpho was liquids and gases in addition to solids. Kevin could not change his body to different elements as well while Metamorpho could. Interestingly, Kevin shared Metamorpho's insecurities and self-hatred over their mutated appearance.
 * In Ghost Town, Kevin says that he is a fan of Whack-a-Mole.
 * In the original series when Kevin was a mutant combo of Ben's 10 starters, he did not appear to have the powers of Grey Matter (size and intelligence), Upgrade (melding with technology), and Ghostfreak (invisibility and intangibility) even though their body parts can be seen on him, possibly being almost useless at 1/10 of their respective powers.
 * It appears that Kevin doesn't go to school like Ben and Gwen.
 * Technically, Kevin was the first Osmosian villain (as well as the first Osmosian to appear) in the Ben 10 series (though he is only half-Osmonsian), with the second being Aggregor (who happens to be full Osmosian).
 * According to Aggregor, Kevin is considered a "hatchling" to Osmosians.
 * When Kevin forms things out of his hands he remsembles another creation by "Man of Action," Generator Rex.
 * When Kevin returns to his human form in Trade-Off and The Final Battle: Part 2, he is seen with what looks like black briefs. Dwayne McDuffie has confirmed that this is in fact simply a black skintight swimsuit.
 * Kevin still has the power to absorb any type of energy or matter and release it at will, but doesn't want to because of its previous side-effects.
 * According to an Ultimate Alien comic which was found in a K-Zone magazine, Kevin mentions that he hates wearing green jackets, in reference to Ben's green jacket.
 * In the episode Darkstar Rising, Kevin said that he had never met his dad, but in Vendetta, he is shown in a picture with him. (Dwayne McDuffie said he was either lying.or he was too young to remember.)
 * When Kevin introduces himself to Ragnarok in Vendetta, he makes an oblique reference to the Princess Bride, saying; "My name is Kevin Ethan Levin, you killed my father, prepare to die," echoing the famous quote of the book, "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die," (repeated). According to Dwayne McDuffie, Mrs. Levin had read the book to him as a child.
 * In Deep he befriended (in a sense) a strange bubble-like fish that acted similarly to a dog(similarly to Ship) that saved him form drowning by swallowing his head acting like a helmet, but did not keep it as Ben did with Ship unfortunately and let it go. He was notably saddened by this which Gwen commended as noble.

Video Games
Kevin appeared in every version (Wii, DS, PSP, PS2) of the game as the villain at the end of the Lumber Mill level and the second mini-boss in the secret challenge of the Null Void level.
 * Ben 10: Protector of Earth (Villain)

Kevin appeared in every version (Wii, DS, PSP, PS2) of the game, like the previous game. Unlike the previous game, Kevin is playable only on the Wii, PSP and PS2 version of the game. He is playable for 2 levels, and for 1 level he was taken over by a Xenocyte and became the boss for that level.
 * Ben 10: Alien Force (Playable Character)

Kevin appeared once again in every version (Wii, DS, PSP, PS2, Xbox 360) of the game. He is not a playable character in any of the versions.
 * Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks (Character)

Kevin appeared as the first boss where he was taken over by the Techadon gauntlet.
 * Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex (Character)


 * Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction (Character)

Ben 10

 * 4 inch Alien Collection normal Kevin 11
 * 10 cm DNAlien mutant Kevin 11
 * Sumo Slammers mutant Kevin 11

Ben 10: Alien Force

 * 4 inch Alien Collection normal Kevin 11
 * 10 cm DNAlien normal Kevin 11
 * Kevin's battle cruiser (car) - includes metal Kevin 11

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

 * 4 inch Alien Collection normal Kevin 11 (unreleased)