Ben Tennyson (Classic)

Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, more commonly known as Ben or Ben 10, is the main character in all three of the Ben 10 series: Ben 10, Ben 10: Alien Force, and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

He is first introduced in the episode And Then There Were 10, where he finds the Omnitrix and then, throughout the series, learns to use the powerful alien device, including the responsibly of wielding it, to become a true hero.

It should be noted that Ben is three-quarters human and one-quarter Anodite (though Anodites have no DNA).

Appearance
Ben has brown hair and green eyes(in Alien Force his eyes appear to be of a darker green and his hair is a darker brown). In the original series, he wears a black and white t-shirt and green pants. In Alien Force, he wears a black t-shirt with a green jacket over it and a pair of jeans. His jacket in Alien Force has the number 10 on it.

In the original series it is also mentioned several times that Ben has poor hygiene.

Original series
Ben was originally a typical ten year old boy, who grew up in Bellwood, and was unpopular and bullied in his school.

However, his life changed the day he went in summers holidays with his grandfather, Max and his cousin, Gwen. A short time after they left Bellwood, Ben went on a walk through the woods in which they were camping, and witnessed the crash of a strange capsule from space. This capsule happened to contain the Omnitrix, a powerful watch-like device, who fixed itself on Ben's wrist.

At first scared, Ben soon discovered that using the Omnitrix, he was now able to transform into ten super-powered alien creatures. Unable to remove it, he eventually learned to use it(though with relative problems) in order to become a super-hero. Though he occasionnally arrested ordinary criminals, he was quickly led to also fight super-villains, starting with Dr. Animo, Kevin 11, and ultimately Vilgax, a vicious alien warlord who wanted to get the Omnitrix for himself.

Despite being very immature and occasionnally using the Omnitrix for minor selfish purposes, Ben proved to be a valuable wearer for the Omnitrix, defeating Vilgax several times(though it was mostly due to the help from Gwen and Max) and saving people several times.

During this series, Ben's favorite alien is Fourarms, showing his tendency to favor brute force over well-thought plans.

Alien Force
Ben also has a "girlfriend" named Julie Yamamoto, who marks her first appearance in the pilot episode Ben 10 Returns: Part 1 as a crowd attendent to Ben's soccer game. She then next appears in Pier Pressure, where Ben asks her out and she discovers the Omnitrix and finds it cool instead of running away like Ben thought. It seems that Ben has a very concerned and protective feeling for her and the same with Julie. Ben seems to trust Julie the most. For instance, when Ben's hand is cut-off, it goes in search of Julie and not Gwen or Kevin. And when Big Chill takes over Ben's personality, it is Julie who sincerely takes his problem seriously and tried to help him in every manner. Ben even travelled half-way across the galaxy only to fight against the claim of Baz-L for Ship only for Julie.

When Grandpa Max goes missing, he teams up with Gwen and a reformed Kevin. In the first two seasons, it is shown that Ben has matured dramatically and is a very capable good leader. But in Season 3, after their success at saving the universe at the hands of the Highbreed, Ben seems to have gone back to his immature self. He has this basic dialogue of saying that "And that's because I saved the whole entire universe" of which Gwen and Kevin have been highly disgusted with. Constantly, they only complete his this dialogue. Ben had also tampered with the Omnitrix which led to the release of Goop, Chromastone, Spidermonkey and Way Big which he got back whereas mutuating Kevin for the second time. Ben and Gwen have also revived their infamous love-hate relationship with each other. Despite their rivalry, their bond is still strong(e.g. In Time Heals, Ben tells Gwen that he lost her once and he's not losing her again). Now Ben considers that his "overconfidence" is his most appealing quality and thinks that he is adorable. In The Final Battle: Part 2, during his conversation with Azmuth, Ben starts to regret being overconfident. After the Omnitrix is destroyed which reverts Kevin to his human form, Ben gets the Ultimatrix from Albedo.

Ultimate Alien
In Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, sixteen-year-old Ben's identity is revealed to the world and he's now a megastar super hero loved all over by kids but distrusted by many adults. This series will also feature Ben's new car, the DX Mark 10, which marked it's first appearance in Ben 10: Alien Swarm, the car being gifted reluctantly by Kevin. Also he will be seen with Julie, now sharing a stronger bond with her and Julie again helping their team from time to time. He and Julie will also share their first on-screen kiss(though we do not when). He also got a lot of confidence after Julie kissed him and Ben appeared to be utterly shocked at Julie kissing him. Also, Ben and Kevin are now true friends and not rivals. Ben is now armed by an enhanced version of the Omnitrix, the Ultimatrix, which evolves his aliens, and also has every alien he has ever turned into, though at the moment, Ben has yet to turn into them or re-unlock them.

Possible future
See: Ben 10,000(episode) and Ken 10.

Though never mentioned in the future, Ben will marry Julie Yamamoto. Also the episode Ken 10 mentioned above is non-canon. Though it is stated that Ben 10,000 episode is indeed canon, because Ben learned about the fate of being a true hero and use the Omnitrix more wisely. For instance, Ben no longer has the Omnitrix and has the Ultimatrix.

Personalilty
Ben is shown to be a cocky, immature boy, who is not above enjoying attention and enjoy making jokes even during fights. Though is immaturity makes a bad impression on some people, Ben is good-hearted, and his actions are motivated above all by a strong and sincere will to help other people. He will stop at nothing to protect his family or anyone in danger. For instance, in Time Heals, when Ben bought Gwen time, he told her that he had lost her once and did not want to lose her again. When meeting a ennemy in difficulty (like Kevin in Kevin 11 or the HighBreed's in "War of the Worlds"), he will rather attempt to help him. At one point, he even choosed to save the half-cured DNAlien Tyler rather than take the key for the Highbreed's invasion, even though Tyler was willing to sacrifice himself. Sometimes, his idealistic nature tends to make him act naive, a weakness that was used against him by the Arachnichimp mercenary Simion.

Though often said by many other characters to be quite unintelligent, Ben actually proves to be resourceful, intelligent, shrewd and cunning when needed, which saved him from many situations, especially when the Omnitrix cannot activate or doesn't provide him with the form he originally wanted. When he almost abolished his immaturity in the two first seasons of Alien Force, he proved to be an excelllent and responsible leader for his team. Although, after his success at saving the universe from the High-breed invasion, his overconfidence caused him to revert to his immature personality. Even in Ultimate Alien, though he has no more ego and overconfidence, he only shows it off when his die-hard fan come to interview him or cheer him.

It is also pertenant to note that Ben has inherited both his grandparents' personality. Although Ben inherited his Grandmother Verdona's spirit, sense of humour and overconfidence, he also inherited his grandfather's determination, adventurous and self-sacrificing attitude. Even though Verdona stated that Kevin was the exact mirror of Max, Ben was a far much more of a mirror of Max than Kevin(I don't think so). This point is proved in various episodes. He is also a much of a practical joker like his Grandmother Verdona.

Kai Green
Kai Green is a girl of Navajo descent and the granddaughter of Wes Green, a former Plumber and a long time friend of Grandpa Max. She appears in the episode Benwolf where Ben catches a glimpse of her dancing and is immediately smitten. At the end of the episode, Ben attempts to establish a relationship with her but is immediately rebuffed when he learns that she had just admired him in his alien form. In the alternate future she is Ben's wife and has two children with him; a boy named Ken and a girl named Gwen.

Julie Yamamoto
Julie Yamamoto is an Asian-American(most likely Japanese) student and teenage tennis player who is the current Ben's love interest. She first appears in the pilot episode of Alien Force as a crowd attendant to Ben's soccer match. At the end of the two-part season two finale War of the Worlds, Ben and Julie get close to kissing, but decide against it as Gwen, Kevin, and Max were all looking on. In the series premiere of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Ben and Julie share their first kiss; although technically, Julie kissed him on the cheek. It said that Ben and Julie will be kissing often throughout the series as their affection for each other grows(Ben is going to cheat on her in a future episode; I'm not lying).

Elena Validus
Elena Validus is one of the Plumbers' kids and a former member of Ben's soccer team. She is mentioned by Gwen as Ben's first crush(though this contradicts what was seen in the original series as Ben met Elena when he was thirteen while he met Kai when he was ten). Ben had to convince his soccer team mates to let her join. She appeared in the live-action film, Ben 10: Alien Swarm.

Powers and Abilities
Ben is the wearer of the Omnitrix and later the Ultimatrix, which give him the incredible power and ability to modify his own genetic code in order to turn into various Alien creatures. He traditionally has an arsenal of 10 aliens at the beginning of the original series and Alien Force, but he later gains additional forms both by unlocking other aliens or scan DNA on the creatures he meets. At the end of the original series, his arsenal included 20 aliens, while his current complete list is 38 aliens discovered(Ben 10, Ben 10: Alien Force, and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien). Furthermore, with the Ultimatrix, he is now able to become Ultimate Form versions of five of his Alien Force forms and one of his original. He has yet to access the Future Aliens used by Ben 10,000.

When transforming into an alien, Ben gets all the creature's features, including its appearance, voice, abilities, and weaknesses. Though he mostly retains his personality, there are some cases where the transformation causes change in it, such as Rath becoming far more aggressive, Spidermonkey acting more childish, or Big Chill being affected by his species' reproduction instincts. Two of the aliens, Ghostfreak, Big Chill even managed to take over Ben's personality twice, though this was a special case. Though he usually uses his alien forms to fight there have been some occasions where he was taken for a real alien by others, humans especially(at least until his secret was revealed). At one point, he even intentionally impersonated Bivalvan as Water Hazard to convince P'andor to flee from Earth, and though he was unsuccessful to convince him, P'andor actually believed him to be Bivalvan.

The Omnitrix/Ultimatrix also gives Ben the ability to communicate with any life form that doesn't already speak english(except for babies). As seen in Alien Force, Ben is also able to repair and manipulate any genetic damage on whatever life form he encounters by either removing the foreign DNA corrupting it or infusing it with DNA samples currently active. Ben can do this in two ways: By being in physical contact with the life form or by sending out a beam or wave from the Omnitrix face plate. Doing this in the latter method can overtax the Omnitrix and exhaust Ben if he uses more energy than is available (meaning if he's in alien form). Furthermore, Azmuth has stated that Ben is capable of bringing to life any species stored on Primus. While Ben has yet to use to ability willingly, there have been instances of Ben's forms coming to life and escaping the Omnitrix, such as in the original series when Ghostfreak separated himself from Ben(being alive all along), and when Ben attempted to access the Omnitrix's full power and resulted in releasing Chromastone, Spidermonkey, Goop, and Way Big. The genetic back-up ability also appeared in The Secret Of Chromastone, where Tetrax released Chromastone, the Codom Stream version of Sugilite, so he could restore the planet Petropia(though being that Ben had Petrosapian DNA in the Omnitrix, he could've brought the race back as well). However, it's currently unknown if the Ultimatrix has these abilities too (as Azmuth is currently working on a more improved version of the Ultimatrix, it may mean that the current version doesn't).

In addition to his Omnitrix/Ultimatrix powers, Ben, in Alien Force, has been trained in hand-to-hand fight by his black belt cousin Gwen (as shown in Be-Knighted), his former plumber grandfather Max, as well as various years-fighting aliens, and received a basic Plumber training(all of this according to Dwayne McDuffie). He is much more altheltic than his younger self. Though he has only been trained on week basis in order to be able to handle himself if the Omnitrix doesn't work, he's still proved to be quite skilled, being able to take off Manny's blasters while in human form in Above and Beyond and in the episode D'void where Grandpa Max commented on how he lost to Pierce (which Ben replied that he lost on purpose). Like his cousin Gwen, he is 1/4th Anodite. And while it seems that his heritage hasn't manifested, it is possibly that Anodite powers and abilities will slowly awaken within him (possible proof shown in Fame when his eyes glowed pink for a second).

Trivia

 * Ben suffered from a fear of clowns up until the events of Last Laugh, when he realized that there were actually more serious things to be scared of, like "losing 'his' family to some 'goofball emotional vampire'," finally 'scaring the fear' right out of him.
 * In A Change of Face, it is mentioned that a 10-year-old Ben still slept with his teddy bear, called "Furry Freddy."
 * It was shown in Monster Weather that Ben knows how to play the guitar and the drums.
 * As a kid, Ben was a fan of the Sumo Slammers franchise and of a Manga comic series called "Ultra Boy", even imagining himself as "Ultra Ben"(see: The Galactic Enforcers and Perfect Day.) To this day, Ben remains a Sumo Slammers fanatic, but it remains to be seen if he still reads Ultra Boy or not.
 * It is shown in Goodbye and Good Riddance that Ben has a dog.
 * Although he, like his cousin Gwen is descended from the Anodite race.He showed his Anodite eyes in the episode Fame. Although If seen briefly, after Ben reverted back from Spidermonkey, in the series premiere of Ultimate Alien, Fame Ben's eyes gleam pink for a moment. Also, in Voided, he saw Dr. Animo absorbing energy, and that is a form of mana increase, so anodites or part anodites should be the only ones that are capable of interpreting it. This might mean that Ben actually does has Anodite powers and abilities lying dormant within him but it is unknown what keeps Ben away from obtaining "the spark" like Gwen. It might be possible that every time Ben transforms into his alien's ultimate forms his dormant Anodite powers and abilities will slowly awaken and start to fully mature into a full-fledged Anodite alien. This could occur at the end of the first season of Ultimate Alien or ever further in the series.
 * In the episode "Voided" although Ben was able to see mana being drawn, it's unknown if this is because of his Anodite DNA. As Charmcaster is also able to see Mana being absorb, and is human.
 * Ben has a strong affinity to chilli fries and smoothies.
 * Julie is Ben's first girlfriend who has kept up the relation Ben wanted to establish with.
 * After Hero Time, this is the third time Ben is going to be dumped by a girl. First was Kai Green, who admired him in alien formed, wanting to "train" and "tame" him, second being Elena, who ended up on the "friendship" note only and third being the young movie actress who only appreciated Ben as a hero-alien form and only had meaning with Ben's fame and money. Julie has appeared to be the only girl among the four to fall in love with Ben truly and to give in with him at all steps.
 * As mentioned in Primus, he is just a "regular guy" without the Omnitrix. This means that despite being a Plumber's grandson, Ben does not have any superpowers and super-abilities. This makes Ben one of the two official Plumber kids who does not have natural powers. The other being Elena.
 * As revealed in the episode Good Copy, Bad Copy, Ben's left eye twitches whenever he tells a lie. Kevin seems to be the only one who noticed this.
 * Like Max and Gwen, Ben thinks that the summer he found the Omnitrix was the best summer ever.
 * He made a cameo appearance alongside several over cartoon characters in the BBC Children in Need's 2009 Charity Single as a member of the "Peter Kay's Animated All-Star band".
 * Ben's aliens do not have the same costume style as in Ben 10, Ben as when he wears a swimming costume, pajamas or a suit he still wears his black and white t-shirt in alien form.
 * Ben's middle name is Kirby. This is proven by his cousin Gwen in the Ultimate Alien episode, Duped.
 * Sometimes Ben cannot tolerate going in high speed. This point is seen in 4 places: First, in Pet Project, when Ship is flying very fast, Ben almost begs him to drive slowly. Second, in War of the Worlds Part 2, when Kevin is driving the car in a rash manner, Ben scolds him for that. Third, when Brainstorm is driving Ship and he flies very fast, he vomits up all on Azmuth and faints when he reaches the Highbreed locality, and fourth, in The Final Battle: Part 1, when Ben tells Kevin that he can't wait for his license because he was fed up of Kevin's bad and rash driving (although Kevin was flying a plane).
 * In Perfect Day, Ben was shown to wear Sumo Slammer boxer shorts, when his pants fell down in front of a group of cheerleaders.