Plumbers

This article belongs to the Classic Continuity

The Plumbers are an intergalactic law-enforcement organization that makes use of many high-tech gadgets and weapons to protect the planets in the universe from various alien threats and attacks. Originally, there existed an independant Earth-based secret government organisation also called Plumbers. However, sometime between the end of the original series and Omniverse flashbacks, the Earth Plumbers joined the intergalactic organization.^[1][2]

History

Main Timeline

The Plumbers were first established by the Founding Fathers in the 1700's. George Washington was one of the first members.^{[pop-up 1][3]} They were created to fix "leaks" in the normal everyday world like aliens, monsters and ghosts.^{[pop-up 2][3]} Operating in secret, the Plumbers took on anything too tough or weird for normal law enforcement to handle.^{[pop-up 3][3]}

Ben 10

In the original series, the Plumbers are a secret government organization that protects the general public from any alien threat. Their main adversary was the alien warlord, Vilgax. Max Tennyson was a member of the Plumbers in his youth and was ultimately the one who defeated Vilgax. Most of the Plumbers eventually disbanded; however, a few of its members (like Max and his relatives) remain in a semi-active capacity.

Max is effectively forced out of retirement after his grandson, Ben Tennyson obtains the Omnitrix. Max uses his experience as a Plumber (along with various Plumber gear and weapons) to aid Ben in various battles along the road.

In Big Fat Alien Wedding, it is revealed that the Plumbers have had a generations-long feud with the Lenopans. However, when a close relationship was formed between Plumber Joel Tennyson (Max Tennyson's nephew) and a Lenopan named Camille, a truce was forged as a result of their relationship and their wedding was to be the first ever marriage between a Lenopan and a human and was meant to put an end to years of fighting. Camille's parents and ex-boyfriend tried to stop the wedding; however, they were defeated by the combined efforts of Camille and the Tennysons and thus, the two were married. Though Joel's parents were against the marriage at first, they later realize how unfairly they had treated Camille and finally accepted her as their daughter-in-law, thus putting an end to the feud.

The Plumbers' main base is located inside of Mt. Rushmore, where the Null Void projector and the Sub Energy are stored. In the episode of Truth, the Null Void projector was stolen by Phil Billings as a part of scam to profit from catching aliens he himself had released; however, his plan was thwarted by Max and Ben. There is also a base located within Fort Knox and the Seattle Space Needle and a map detailing the location of all the Plumber bases in USA revealing there is at least one per state. Max stated that there is one base built into every major military base in the country.

Alien Force

In Alien Force, the Plumbers are revealed to be an inter-planetary law enforcement force, with both human and alien members.

However, Max discovers that the Highbreed and their minions, the DNAliens, are up to no good and he warns Magister Labrid there is trouble brewing on Earth. Labrid quickly discovers Max has gone missing and mistakenly tries to capture Ben and Gwen, believing that they were stealing the Omnitrix. Upon discovering who they are, he asks for their assistance in discovering the reason for Max's disappearance. The three of them manage to interrupt an arms deal between the Forever Knights and the DNAliens, with Ben's old-rival, Kevin as the middle-man. After a brief battle, they captured Kevin and convinced him to help them find out what was going on, Kevin decided to help as he had not been paid. They tracked the weapons back to one of the Forever Knights castles. During a battle with the Forever Knights, Labrid is fatally wounded. His dying wish was for them to finish their mission and charged them with protecting the Earth from this new threat.

In Everybody Talks About the Weather, it is revealed that Plumbers possess special badges. All Plumber Badges bear the intergalactic peace symbol. There is also a practice where alien Plumbers who have inter-bred with humans give their hybrid-offspring a Plumber Badge to prevent them from being wrongly arrested by other Plumbers for interplanetary trespass.

In Darkstar Rising, Ben, Gwen and Kevin are forbidden to fight against the Highbreed threat by Magister Prior Gilhil, who doubts the Highbreed are as much of a threat as they are. However, all three sides find themselves working together when Darkstar captures them all but Gwen to feed his powers. With the help of the DNAliens, Gwen frees them and Darkstar is arrested while the Highbreed and the DNAliens escape. In gratitude, Prior Gilhil makes the team honorary Plumbers so they can defend the Earth legally. He also mentions that Ben's Omnitrix represents a Plumber Badge. It is also revealed that impersonating a Plumber is an interstellar-class felony.

In War of the Worlds, all of the Plumber's Kids and Max participate in the final battle against the Highbreed. Notably, Gwen, Kevin, Cooper and Professor Paradox warped into the Plumber base in Mt. Rushmore to free Darkstar in order to participate in the battle.

As a result of Ben's defeat of Vilgax and neutralizing the Highbreed threat, as well as his status as Bearer of the Omnitrix, Ben holds a special status among the Plumbers ranks, even leading his own team.

At the end of War of the Worlds, Max recruits a team of Plumbers In-Training, with himself as both their leader and mentor. Max's team later fights and is defeated by Vilgax in Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 1.

Ultimate Alien

In Fame, it is revealed that all governments on Earth secretly recognize the Plumbers organization in dealing with alien threats (explaining the existence of secret bases within Mount Rushmore and Fort Knox, as they were likely set up with the help of the United States government to aid the Plumbers).

In Escape from Aggregor, Prior Gilhil answered a distress call from Galapagus aboard Aggregor's Ship, only to be told by Aggregor on arrival that the distress call was a computer error. After demanding a search of the ship, he soon locates Aggregor's prisoners, only to be murdered by Aggregor. Aggregor stole Prior Gilhil's ship and suit.

In Too Hot to Handle, it is revealed that Plumber Badges can act as radiation detectors. At the end of the episode, Aggregor is shown attacking the Plumbers' ship which was carrying P'andor, the windows crack from Aggregor's attacks and throw the Plumbers into space, killing them.

In Deep, there is a place called Plumber Central Command and there is a Magister Plumber named Magister Pyke stationed on Piscciss.

In The Enemy of My Enemy, the Plumbers Academy had made an appearance and Magister Coronach is running the academy and he doesn't approve of the place being a prison or a battlefield.

In Basic Training, Ben, Gwen and Kevin are sent to a different Plumbers Academy where they were trained by Magister Hulka, the toughest Plumber of all.

In A Knight to Remember, a squad of Plumbers help Ben's Team fight the Flame Keepers' Circle in an attempt to capture Vilgax but failed.

With the exception of Dr. Animo^{[ES 1]}, the Plumbers are not allowed to arrest humans.^[4][5]

Omniverse

The Plumber Headquarters beneath Max's Plumbing reappeared, where most captured villains are imprisoned if not imprisoned in the Null Void. The Plumbers have also seemed to gain control over imprisoning certain human if they proved to be a great enough threat or in alien related matters as they captured Billy Billions in Arrested Development and Nyancy Chan in Tummy Trouble.

Alternate/Parallel Timelines

Future

In the future, the Plumbers wear armored suits as their standard uniform.

In The End of an Era, the Plumbers, along with various people throughout the galaxy, were having a celebration of Max Tennyson's retirement, who had also given Rook his position of Magistratus.

Dimension 23

In Dimension 23, the Plumbers have different members in the organization than their main timeline counterparts, including, Azmuth, Tetrax Shard, Sevenseven and formerly Max Tennyson.

Race Against Time Timeline

This timeline's Plumbers had been fighting against mostly supernatural threats up until Eon first appeared on Earth in the 1800's^{[pop-up 4][6]}, at which point they made it their main objective to protect the Hands of Armageddon from Eon, which they kept in a secret underground base. Their members included, Max Tennyson, Edward White, Louise Dalton, Hawkins, Fire Chief Whittington, Mr. Enguells, Mr. Jenyx, Mrs. Carlyle, an unnamed Old Man, and formerly Constantine Jacobs.

Known Plumbers

Legislation

Casey-Kelly Accords

The Casey-Kelly Accords are a galactic legislation that are responsible for the ratification of the 'Galactic Code of Conduct'. The Code of Conduct, among other things, recognizes the authority of the Plumbers as the only law enforcement agency recognized by all signatories of the Milky Way Treaty, and outlines the rules of the 'Conqueror's Challenge'.^{[DM 1]}

Magister Prior Gilhil cited the Casey-Kelly Accords when asserting the authority of the Plumbers as the only official galactic law enforcement agency.^[7] Max Tennyson cited the Casey-Kelly Accords when banishing Vilgax from Earth following his defeat by Ben Tennyson.^[8]

Conqueror's Challenge

The Conqueror's Challenge can be issued by a member of one planetary civilization in order to challenge another for the rule of both worlds. The Conqueror's Challenge was created by dozens of worlds in cooperation after a bloody galactic war, then signed onto by hundreds more. The Galvan were among the first signatories.^{[DM 1]} In a Conqueror's Challenge, ordinarily issued by the invading species, members of each species can choose a single warrior to represent them in battle. The winner of the battle then becomes the ruler of both planets, while the loser is banished from the invaded planet forever. The rules of the Conqueror's Challenge are outlined in the Galactic Code of Conduct and ratified by the 'Casey-Kelly Accords'.

Vilgax was one of the most successful conquerors in the Milky Way Galaxy, dominating ten planets through his combat abilities alone. In Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 1, he successfully defeated Ultimos and conquered the planet T-K, and issued another challenge to Ben Tennyson of planet Earth. However, in Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 2, Ben defeated Vilgax, who was subsequently banished from Earth. However, Ben did not become the ruler of Vilgaxia after winning the challenge.

Trivia

• Plumbers built garbage trucks, station wagons and a riding lawnmower with weapons and gadgets like the Rust Bucket.^{[pop-up 5][3]}
• The Rooters were a secret branch of the original Earth Plumbers, and were retained as such when the Plumbers joined the intergalactic organisation as an "experiment in cultural sensitivity".^[9]
• There are Plumbers who don't battle or arrest: some of them, are teachers, scientists, or technicians working to promote the public well being.
• The Incurseans and most of the Anur System do not recognize the authority of the Plumbers.
• The Plumbers' equivalent of Human Resources is called 'Inhuman Resources'.^[10]
• Plumbers have the authority to take other Plumbers into custody.^{[MW 1]}
• In the Race Against Time Timeline:
  • The Plumbers had many secret bases hidden in ordinary and public places.^{[pop-up 6][6]}
  • The Plumbers took up many jobs in Bellwood so as to not cause any suspicion as to why they were there.^{[pop-up 7][6]}
  • The Plumbers didn't make the connection between Eon and the Omnitrix until earlier in the summer due to similar energy signatures.^{[pop-up 8][6]}
  • Not all Plumbers were fighters like Max. Many were simply scientists, researches and explorers.^{[pop-up 9][6]}

See Also

Locations

• Plumber Headquarters
• Plumbers' Academy
• Plumbers' Research Satellite Delta

Organizations

• Plumbiers (precursor to the Earth Plumbers)
• Rooters (special faction)

Equipment

• Plumber Suit
• Plumber Badge
• Plumber Ship

References

Crew Statements

Eugene Son

Dwayne McDuffie

Matt Wayne

Pop-ups