The Original Future Timeline is one of Ben Tennyson's possible futures in which he grew up to become a full-time superhero known as Ben 10,000. It is currently the future of the Prime Timeline.[note 1][note 2]
Ken went on a mission he was not allowed to go on, and got in over his head, prompting Ben to take his Omnitrix from him.[DJW 22]
Despite this, Ken wanted to prove himself to be a true hero. When Professor Paradox gave him a device that would allow him to travel through time, Ken became a mysterious white-suited hero named Spanner and traveled to Omniverse's timeframe.
Ben, Kai, and Gwendolyn battle them outside the station, during which Ken assists as Spanner.
Ken is forced to reveal his true identity to his father.
Outmatched by Maltruant, Ben asks Ken to travel back in time to recruit 16-years-old Ben and Rook to help fight. They arrive and pursue Maltruant through the timestream.
After the battle, Ken was grounded by Ben for neglecting to tell him that he was Spanner.[DJW 23]
The line "Re-elect Argit, 2032" from The End of an Era implies that the events of this episode take place in or just before the year 2032, making it one of the only times the year has been mentioned in the series. However, the series uses a floating timeline and does not take place in any specific year.[DM 4]
However, the presence of Sheelane at Max's retirement party indicates that this party occurred some multiple of 5.22 years after the present-day events in the episode The Ballad of Mr. Baumann, because Thalassians can only spend one day every 5.22 years out of water.[16][17]
He is from further in the future after the events of Ken 10,[DJW 9] after having learnt the lessons from his encounter with his 10 year old self[DJW 8] and lightened up.[DJW 10]
This is due to:
The executives' push for having everything more like the Original Series, which was the most successful of the franchise.[DJW 6]
Derrick J. Wyatt made several further statements to corroborate this, expanding on what was known from the Original Series, such as the backstories for the Biomnitrix and future Kevin Levin invoking the plotlines of Ben 10,000[DJW 10] and Ken 10[DJW 12] respectively, the defining tragedy in Ben 10,000's life having now occurred at the age of 20,[DJW 13] "shifted" from the original age of 15,[pop-up 1][1] etc.
The writing of the show also explicitly called this out, such as when Ben identified the future Dr. Animo as the same person who he encountered in Ben 10,000.[2][LU 1]
This is evidenced in-show in Omniverse by the fact that both the Ben 10,000[3][4] and the future Dr. Animo[2] recalled characters and events from the present day. Chrono-Spanner also frequently visits present day with effects of his actions manifest in his present.[5] This creates causal time loops and would not be possible if these characters belonged to an alternate timeline.
Deliberate efforts were made throughout the last few seasons to align the story with the original future timeline, in terms of character designs, set designs and plot lines. Examples include setting up Ben's relationship with Kai,[6][DJW 15]Kevin getting his chin scar,[7][DJW 16]Gwen going by Gwendolyn since starting college,[8][1] and so on.
It was pointed out by fans that this created a plot hole with Ben 10,000 Returns, as Ben 10,000 was stated to be from an alternate timeline[9] in which he never travelled to the future when he was 10, and consequently did not give Max a cake on his 60th birthday, while Ben Prime did.[1] Thus, Ben 10,000 did not recall the events of the episode from his younger self's perspective.[10][DM 1][DM 2][DM 3]
Derrick responded to the matter by saying: "Your 'plot holes' are irrelevant. Time isn't completely fixed, it's shifting. Events can be subtly altered. But Ben 10,000 is the future for the Ben Prime timeline."[DJW 4]
He further explained that future is always in flux,[DJW 17] and is constantly affected by current events, especially by the meddling of the present by time travellers.[DJW 14][1] Thus, Ben 10,000, ie, Ben's true future will always be changing, depending on the future writers of the show. Any of the futures we see on the show are thus only possible futures.[MW 1][MW 2] Ben 10,000 is thus only Ben's current future, but may not be the one he ends up being.[pop-up 2][1][pop-up 3][11]
↑This was originally stated to occur when Ben was 15 years old, placing it during Alien Force,[pop-up 1][1] but was later changed to when Ben was 20 years old.[DJW 18][BTP 1]
↑Ben 10,000 and Kai were stated to have a daughter, named Gwendolyn,[pop-up 7][1][pop-up 8][14] who never appeared on-screen. When asked if Gwendolyn still existed in the Original Future Timeline as of Omniverse, Derrick J. Wyatt initially said she did not,[DJW 24] stating that he hated that she was named after Ben's cousin Gwen and decided to ignore her existence.[DJW 25] When made aware that Gwendolyn's existence was revealed via pop-up trivia years later, Derrick admitted that he did not know she existed, and was probably confused by the earlier question. He also explained that the reason she was never used in Omniverse is because the crew, who had studied the Original Series episodes for research, did not have access to the pop-ups. Therefore, they were not aware that Ben 10,000 had a daughter.[DJW 26]
This article belongs to the Prime Timeline's current future in the Classic Continuity
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