Ben 10,000 (Episode)

Ben 10,000 is the twenty-seventh episode of Ben 10.

Plot
Ben and Gwen seem to be getting along now and Gwen reveals that it’s Grandpa Max's 60th birthday. But, they begin to argue who would get his birthday cake when Max leaves. Gwen says that Ben was supposed to get it. They play a game of rock, paper and scissors to determine who would get the cake. Before the final count, a portal appears in the middle of the campground and a woman flies out from it. She has a mask to cover her face and she has the five Charms of Bezel on her left arm. She grabs Gwen, hoping that Ben would come after her. He transforms to XLR8 and runs into the portal. Max returns with firewood, but with Ben and Gwen nowhere to be found.

The mysterious woman takes Gwen into a futuristic world and XLR8 comes to take her back. A girl on a hoverboard waves at XLR8. As he waves back, a kid spots him and recognizes him as a hero, calling him "Ben 10k". XLR8 spots a giant statue that says: "Hero of Heroes: Ben 10,000". XLR8 is amazed by how much he is recognized in this world. Suddenly, the statue is torn down and, Exo-Skull, a cybernetically enhanced rhinoceros appears out of the clouds of smoke and dust. XLR8 runs towards him, hoping that he'll be able to deliver a blow, but unfortunately, the Omnitrix times out before he can attack. The woman casts a spell before Exo-Skull attacks Ben. The woman attacks, hoping to take down Exo-Skull, but he shoots a net to take her down instead. Ben and Gwen are now in danger and run for their lives.

All of a sudden, someone speeds in to help, and takes out Exo-Skull in no time flat. It turns out to be another XLR8, only wearing a different color of attire and a little bigger. Ben recognizes who it really is: Ben 10,000. Ben is amazed how much he’s changed in the future and he asks him how the 10,000 aliens may be unlocked on the Omnitrix. Future XLR8 tells the masked woman to send them back. Gwen and the woman insist that he change his attitude. Immediately, Gwen realizes that the woman was her, 30 years old, but she refers to herself as Gwendolyn. Gwen is amazed by how she knows magic, but Ben doesn’t seem to care now and wants to know why they were taken from their time.

Gwendolyn explains that Ben 10,000 has fully mastered the Omnitrix, but he still needs help. She says that it might not be enough power to support him in future encounters. Suddenly, Gwendolyn’s belt alerts them that Sector 15-D is being attacked, and it contains DNA samples from across the galaxy. Immediately, Ben knows that Dr. Animo is up to no good. Ben attempts to activate the Omnitrix, but with no luck. Something drives by shortly after, and it's the RV. Inside is 80-year-old Grandpa Max. It's his 80th birthday, and he's happy to see his grandkids as children once again.

They come inside the newly modified RV, and much of it has been rebuilt. They are amazed by how the RV now has the ability to fly. Ben asks where he sleeps, but Gwendolyn says that he has his own quarters, due to his other priorities. Ben asks Max if he’s coming, but he says that Ben 10,000 hasn’t needed his help for a long while. Instead, he wants a goodbye from them before they were sent back to their time. As the door closes, Max has a feeling of sadness.

Ben turns to Stinkfly and they head in the sector. Inside, future Four Arms is already fighting. While Stinkfly tries to get through to future Four Arms, he doesn't care what he says. As the smoke clears, Animo heads out, and he's biologically enhanced. His head is attached to what appears to be a giant gorilla. Animo plans to use all 10,000 of Ben 10,000's DNA to create 10,000 monstrous minions.

Stinkfly comes in to attack, but Four Arms ties Stinkfly’s tail down, and he shouts at him to stay out of his way. Gwendolyn tells Gwen that future Ben prefers everything to be done himself. Stinkfly struggles to get free, but to no avail. As Four Arms and Animo fight, Four Arms transforms into Spitter, and he fires slime at Animo. Spitter transforms into Buzzshock to electrify him, then Cannonbolt to knock him out. He then transforms into future Four Arms to tie Animo down.

The Galactic Enforcers arrive to help, but future XLR8 says that they're too late. Ultimos says that they should be given a chance to help out, but XLR8 doesn't let them. Instead, he orders them to bring Animo to the Null Void. It's at this point that Ben's Omnitrix times out, reverting him back to normal and setting him free. XLR8 decides to take Ben and Gwen back to headquarters. As the Galactic Enforcers are about to clean up the mess they were told to do, Animo releases a gas that causes them to collapse. He rips open a nearby chamber holding what seems to be the remains of Vilgax. Animo then reanimates Vilgax, creating a new body from the remains.

At Ben 10,000's headquarters, Ben is amazed by how it's built. Ben is glad to see that he has his own "hangout", but future XLR8 says he’s too busy monitoring Earth for any trouble. Ben is disappointed that he doesn’t have fun in the future. While future XLR8 scans for any dangers, he tells Ben and Gwen to not touch anything. Ben activates a hoverboard and tries to get future XLR8 to race him, but future XLR8 declines and snatches the board away. While Ben and future XLR8 argue about their different behaviors, an alert is sent out that another sector is under attack. Gwendolyn says that the sector is 61 stories below them, though she realizes that the place is in danger. It happens to be the location of the Null Void Projector.

There, Animo tries to activate the Null Void Projector, when XLR8 arrives and transforms into Diamondhead to fight. Vilgax then steps out from the shadows and is shown to be alive. Gwen, Gwendolyn, and Ben arrive at the Null Void Projector room to help out. Ben tells the Gwens to go after Animo, while he goes to future Diamondhead to help fight Vilgax. He attempts to change to Four Arms, but transforms into Upgrade, and attacks Vilgax by merging with the hoverboard. Future Diamondhead tells Upgrade to get away, but Upgrade insists that if it's future Diamondhead's battle, then it's his too. Future Diamondhead transforms Upgrade into Cannonbolt by touching the Omnitrix symbol. Diamondhead then transforms into Wildmutt.

Gwen and Gwendolyn are inside fighting Animo, while they notice that the Null Void is about to open. Cannonbolt and future Wildmutt continue fighting Vilgax, but it seems that they don't have the power to defeat Vilgax. Vilgax has become familiar with the fighting styles of every one of Ben 10,000's alien forms, thanks to an analysis by Dr. Animo. Max comes just in time and fires the gun designed to destroy Vilgax. Cannonbolt tells Max to head in to help out Gwen and Gwendolyn while he and future Wildmutt battle Vilgax. Meanwhile, Gwen is in danger, but luckily, Max comes just in time to extend his arm to reach her. At first, she's puzzled about it, but Max says a lot can happen in 20 years. He transforms his arm into a giant gun.

Cannonbolt wonders if future Four Arms remembers his old way of fighting villains. Vilgax is amused by Ben 10,000's attempt to defeat him with his true form. Ben 10,000 turns Cannonbolt into Diamondhead and uses a hoverboard to make Vilgax try and get him. Once Ben 10,000 has Vilgax near a pool of water, he morphs into Spitter and spews slime at the villain. As Vilgax reaches the ledge of water, Diamondhead uses the diamonds to push him down. Ben 10,000 then transforms to a future ice alien to freeze the water, trapping Vilgax inside. Diamondhead looks at the alien, and asks what his name is. The future alien says that he no longer names his aliens, but he remembers what Cannonbolt has told him. He comes up with "Absolute Zero", but Diamondhead thinks it's boring and uncreative. Instead, he suggests "Arctiguana". Arctiguana seems to agree with the name.

Back at the Null Void Projector, Gwen, Gwendolyn, and Max manage to best Dr. Animo, causing his head to unscrew from his ape-like body. Dr. Animo's head attempts to get away, but Gwen holds it down by standing on one of its tendrils. Max then proceeds to shut down the Projector, sealing all the captured beings inside.

At the headquarters, Ben, Ben 10,000, Gwen, and Gwendolyn celebrate their grandfather's 80th birthday. Ultimos alerts that there is danger. But for the first time in years, he decides to take the day off and enjoy it with Max. Gwen realizes what they were brought to the future for: to help Ben 10,000 adjust his attitude. Ben 10,000 gives Ben a cube to take home telling him it's something he should have done years ago. Max is worried that the kids were missing, but they appear behind him. Ben then activates the cube and reveals a birthday cake, and they celebrate Max's birthday.

Major Events

 * Ben Tennyson and Gwen Tennyson learn about their possible future.

Omnitrix Alien Debuts

 * Spitter
 * Buzzshock
 * Arctiguana

Characters

 * Ben Tennyson
 * Ben 10,000 (first appearance)
 * Gwen Tennyson
 * Gwendolyn Tennyson (first appearance)
 * Max Tennyson
 * Max Tennyson (first appearance; future)
 * Ultimos (future)
 * Tini (future)
 * Synaptak (future)

Villains

 * Vilgax (Future) (first appearance)
 * Dr. Animo (Future) (first appearance)
 * Exo-Skull (first appearance)

By Ben

 * XLR8
 * Stinkfly (accidental transformation; selected alien was Four Arms)
 * Upgrade (accidental transformation; selected alien was Four Arms)
 * Cannonbolt
 * Diamondhead

By Ben 10,000

 * XLR8 (x3, first time was off-screen transformation)
 * Four Arms (x3, first time was off-screen transformation)
 * Spitter (x2; first appearance)
 * Diamondhead (x2)
 * Buzzshock (first appearance)
 * Cannonbolt
 * Wildmutt
 * Heatblast
 * Stinkfly
 * Arctiguana (first appearance)

Spells Used

 * Kemo Char
 * Meena Goh
 * Twista Combititus
 * Interdamoto Laborator

Errors

 * Ben asks Ben 10,000 about unlocking the other 9,990 aliens. However, at this point Ben had discovered 12 aliens, so he actually should've said 9,988. However, Ben may have just been rounding up.
 * When both Bens were fighting Vilgax and fell off the building, Gwendolyn Tennyson appears in the group of people, but in Ken 10, happening 12 more years into the future, she appears as a kid so in this episode she should have been very young or not born yet.
 * The charms on Gwendolyn's arm changes places, the charms change from being three on the upper arm and two are the forearm to two on the upper arm and three on the forearm, in some shots.
 * XLR8 grabs Ben and Gwen, but then he runs alone.
 * In one scene, XLR8's arm was miscolored.
 * Arctiguana is shown to have 3 fingers and 1 thumb instead of 2 fingers and one thumb.
 * When Ben 10,000 as XLR8 first encounters Dr. Animo in Sector 1-A Centric his visor is miscolored green.
 * After Cannonbolt and Four Arms got knocked down by Vilgax, Cannonbolt's finger had a black line around it like Ben 10,000's Cannonbolt. In the next scene, the lines are gone.
 * In one scene, future XLR8 does not have the arrow symbol on his chest.
 * In one scene, Ben 10,000's Diamondhead's Omnitrix symbol was wrong.

Allusions

 * Gwendolyn has a hairdo similar to the one Trowa has in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

Trivia

 * Cannonbolt replaces Ghostfreak in the intro sequence.
 * In this episode, Ben 10,000 is able to trigger 10-year-old Ben's transformations by touching the Omnitrix symbol. Teenage Ben uses this same method to change between forms in Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien and Ben 10: Omniverse; he does the same thing to 10-year-old Ben as teenage Ben did in The Forge of Creation.
 * On iTunes, it says Midnight Madness aired before this episode. As of 2015, this has since been corrected.
 * According to Matt Wayne, the future seen in this episode, Ken 10 and The End of an Era is only one of many possible futures.
 * The future shown in this episode were originally intended to be an parallel future according to the the pop-up.