History Characters / Ben10MainCharacters

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[[center:[[WMG:[-''Characters/Ben10'' [[Characters/Ben10 franchise character index]]\\
'''Main Characters''' ([[Characters/Ben10BenTennyson Ben Tennyson]]) | [[Characters/Ben10OmnitrixAliens Omnitrix Aliens]]\\
Villains premiering in: [[Characters/Ben10VillainsOriginalSeries The Original Series]] ([[Characters/Ben10Vilgax Vilgax]], [[Characters/Ben10ForeverKnights Forever Knights]]) | [[Characters/Ben10VillainsAlienForce Alien Force]] | [[Characters/Ben10VillainsUltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]] | [[Characters/Ben10VillainsOmniverse Omniverse]] | [[Characters/Ben10VillainsSpecials The Specials]] | [[Characters/Ben10Villains2016Series The 2016 series]]\\
[[Characters/Ben10SupportingCharacters Supporting Characters]]-]]]]]
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!!Gwendolyn "Gwen" Tennyson (Lucky Girl)
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Meagan Smith (Original Series), Creator/AshleyJohnson (''Alien Force'' to ''Omniverse''), Creator/MontseHernandez (Reboot)
!!!'''Portrayed by:''' Galadriel Stineman ([[Film/Ben10AlienSwarm Alien Swarm]])

[[AC:Reboot Series]]

[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_gwen.png]]
[[caption-width-right:160:''Reboot'' (2016)]]

* TheAce: Averted, with her being less prone to immediately succeed when trying new things compared to her previous incarnation; when she was stuck [[FreakyFridayFlip in Ben's body]], she couldn't use the aliens well without his coaching.
* ActionSurvivor: She attacked ''Vilgax'' with a fire extinguisher and lived to tell the tale.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: While still more mature than Ben, she is much less sarcastic and patronizing towards him, with the two now behaving like close friends and openly enjoying each other's company. This is in stark difference to the regular fighting and snark that formed their dynamic as children in the classic continuity.
* AdaptationalWimp: While she's still incredibly athletic and takes part in the action, she never gains superpowers of any kind by the end of the show's run, unlike in the classic continuity where she became a prolific magic user. This goes on to become a source of insecurity, as she occasionally wonders how much she's actually contributing to any given adventure.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: She has a big crush on Ryan, Simon's older brother. Not only he is clearly not interested, but she can barely make him realize she ''exist''.
** She ironically subjects Kevin to this, showing no sign of reciprocating his crush on her.
* AnimalMotifs: '''Cats'''. The reboot completely runs with Gwen's cat motif from the previous timeline: she attends a cat-centric convention at one point, enters a game show while dressed as a cat (an outfit she uses again from time-to-time), loves cat-themed paraphernalia, and even ends up with a cat-themed set of PoweredArmor in the season three finale.
* ArchEnemy: To Charmcaster after "The Charm Offensive" despite not having magical powers. Gwen is both thrilled and scared about it.
* BigDamnHeroes: Attacking [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Vilgax]] just as he was about to finish Ben surely qualifies.
* BigEater: In "Assault on Pancake Palace", she won a pancake eating contest against several adults.
* CatGirl: In "Rath of Con", she cosplays as one while at a con dedicated to them.
* CheatedAngle: Wherever the back of her hair points to depends on the direction she is facing.
* CoolBigSis: In spite of being only 7 seconds older than her cousin, she serves this role to Ben in many occasions.
* CuteMonsterGirl: As [[spoiler:Stinkfly]] in "Innervasion".
* DecompositeCharacter: An odd example. In the classic series, Lucky Girl was an alias she created to fight crime. Here, it's a [[ShowWithinaShow magical girl series]] that she's is a huge fan of.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: One episode has Gwen advising Ben to use [[PlayingWithFire Heatblast]] in an ''underwater'' fight. Subverted as she wasn't counting on the monsters grabbing Heatblast and bringing him to the water.
* DoesNotLikeSpam: In contrast with Ben, she doesn't like waffles, preferring pancakes instead. An earlier episode has her wonder if a hotel has a waffle maker, suggesting she does like them, but not as much as Ben.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: In "The Charm Offensive", she laments the fact that while Ben can transform into super-powerful aliens, she is just normal.
* NoSell: After the first time, she learns to resist Morningstar's energy draining.
* NotSoAboveItAll: She is much more prone to join Ben on his shenanigans in this version, while still posing as his voice of reason.
* ObliviousToLove: She is totally clueless about Kevin's PrecociousCrush on her. Even '''Ben''' notices and repeatedly talks about it, but she dismisses it as one of his bad jokes.
* OhCrap: She is initially enthusiastic about having [[BlackMagicianGirl Charmcaster]] as an ArchEnemy... until she realizes she (Gwen) has no powers of her own.
* OnlySaneWoman: Not as much as the old version, but she still got a lot of advice to give Ben.
* SpannerInTheWorks: In "The 11th Alien": Vilgax would have obtained the Omnitrix from Ben, had she [[spoiler:not discovered the natural disasters were caused not by Shock Rock, but the Weatherheads]].
* TookALevelInBadass: In "Innervasion", when she uses [[spoiler:the Omnitrix to transform into Stinkfly and fight the High Override]].
* WhatWouldXDo: She had Max put a laser cannon on their boxcar and use it to fight the Fulmini and [[spoiler:enter the Omnitrix]] because it seemed like "The Ben thing to do".

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/PaulEiding (Original Series to ''Omniverse''), Creator/DavidKaye (Reboot)

[[AC:Reboot Series]]
* AdaptationOriginConnection: Inverted: In the Original Series he fought Vilgax long before Ben was even born. In this series, he was as surprised as everyone else of his existence.
* AdaptationalComicRelief: He acts a lot more silly than he used to be.
* AdaptationalWimp: If he was a Plumber in this version, he hasn't kept his skills in good shape. In fact, especially in Season 1, often he was simply not present for the action. [[spoiler:''Alien-X-Tinction'' hints that he was indeed a Plumber, but he's keeping that information from his grandchildren for unknown reasons]].
* ForcedTransformation: He was transformed into a chicken by Animo in "Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom".
* DotingParent: His fighting skill went way down in this version. His love for his grandkids didn't.
* LethalChef: Averted. In this version, Max doesn't have the... ''unique'' taste he is usually associated with and has shown himself to look pretty good-looking food, even being confused at Ben and Gwen competing over eating the weirdest meal out of a cooking festival. He has no problem with eating burned hot dogs, however.
* ManChild: He can get excited about the things he enjoys as much as his grandchildren, sometimes even acting as a young kid. Lampshaded:
-->'''Gwen:''' [groans] "Is this what ''we're'' like when we drag him to the amusement park?"
-->'''Ben:''' [[SelfDeprecation "We probably shouldn't ask questions we don't want answers to."]]
** IncrediblyLameFun: Some of the things he enjoys include bird-watching, a ride for little kids at a park, and being in the "four corners", the place where the borders of four states meet. Not only Ben, but even Gwen (herself an example of this trope) finds most of his choices boring.
-->'''Gwen:''' "Sigh... I remember fun..."
* NotSoAboveItAll: In "Bounty Ball" he asked Ben to use one of his aliens to end the train tour quickly, as only Gwen was finding it exciting.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: He got past a firewall Gwen was struggling with by pretending to hit random keys.
* OutOfFocus: Since the series is more about Ben and Gwen, there isn't a lot of space for him. Downplayed in season two.
* TookALevelInBadass: In "Innervasion" : he threatened Vilgax with a laser cannon, fought the [[spoiler:Fulmini]], and even [[spoiler:transformed into Cannonbolt]].
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He is afraid of goats, due to an accident when he was young.

Ben, Gwen, Max, Kevin and Rook.]]

[[folder:Kevin Levin]]
!Kevin Ethan Levin (formerly Kevin 11)
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/GregCipes (''Alien Force'', ''Ultimate Alien'', ''Omniverse''), Creator/YuriLowenthal (''[[VideoGame/CartoonNetworkPunchTimeExplosion Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL]]'')
-->"[[TheAtoner I've done stuff that I'm not proud of. Stuff that if you knew, you'd probably never trust me again.]]"

Kevin was originally a street troublemaker kid with the ability to absorb energy, who got regularly bullied and considered as a freak. Following a short-lived partnership with Ben he accidentally absorbed energy from the Omnitrix, causing him to mimic Ben's shapeshifting powers, but eventually lost control of them, causing him to [[ShapeShifterModeLock end up trapped in the form of a]] [[BodyHorror grotesque, chaotic]] [[AllYourPowersCombined amalgam of Ben's ten original aliens]]. [[NeverMyFault Blaming Ben for this]], he went on a vendetta against him and dedicated himself to try to kill him, only to eventually end up trapped in the [[PhantomZone Null Void]]. Following the TimeSkip between the original series and ''Alien Force'', Kevin eventually recovered from his psychosis and mutation while in prison, and was able to go back to Earth where he starts working as a ConMan. Events led him to meet with Ben again and be forced to team up with him. Despite a harsh beginning, the two eventually reconcile, and Kevin becomes a valuable ally as well as Gwen's LoveInterest.

For tropes relating to him as Kevin 11 in the original series, visit the Ben 10 Villains page.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Max Tennyson]]
!Grand Magister Maxwell "Grandpa Max" Tennyson
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/PaulEiding (Original Series to ''Omniverse''), Creator/DavidKaye (Reboot)
[[quoteright:192:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ben_10_Max_Tennyson_2827.jpg]]
-->''Being a hero isn't about others knowing you did something good, it's about you knowing you did something good. Being a hero is its own reward.''

Ben's and Gwen's Grandfather, as well as probably [[CoolOldGuy the most badass human being in the whole Ben 10 Universe]]. A former member of a government organization known as the Plumbers, Max Tennyson serves to his grandkids as a [[TheMentor Mentor]] and ReasonableAuthorityFigure.
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* TheAce: To the Plumbers, he is a legend because he was one of the best. On a meta-level, he is one of the few Plumber characters who never was subject to PoliceAreUseless.
* AdultsAreUseless: Averted. He has the experience, the tools, and the ability to take down villains with or without his grandchildren's help. He knows about the Omnitrix from the beginning, does his best to help, and, when informed by his grandchildren about aliens or other weird phenomenons, believes them.
* BadassAdorable: Back when he first met Verdona, he managed to be cute ''while still being badass''. The early 1960s setting--so early that one would think it to be fifties if not for the Kennedy reference--definitely helped.
* BadassNormal: Seriously, how many non-powered humans are considered a threat by ''[[BigBad Vilgax]]''?
* BigGood: A Grand Magister of the Plumbers and presumably he's the one in charge of the branch on Earth.
** In the future, Max ascends to the rank of Magistratus before retiring, becoming this for the Plumbers as a whole.
* BigOlEyebrows: A trait inherited by his sons and grandson.
* CaptainCrash: During his military days, he earned a reputation for crashing planes, including managing two in one day. Why they kept letting him fly is anyone's guess.
* CareerNotTaken: He was actually a candidate for the Apollo 11 space program, but never got that far. Considering his career as a [[SpacePolice Plumber]] lets him go to space anyway, he's not too broken up about it.
* ChickMagnet: Gained a reputation for this among fans because his love interets (Xylene and Verdona) are [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe attractive alien ladies.]]
* CommutingOnABus: He doesn't appear as often after the original series. Justified in that Ben and Gwen don't need him as much now that they're older.
* CoolCar: The Rust Bucket, an RV absolutely loaded with advanced Plumber tech. It was shown in one episode to have faulty air conditioning and plumbing (ironically enough), but is portrayed as an incredible vehicle in every other appearance.
* CoolOldGuy: Aging clearly didn't weaken him that much.
* CordonBleughChef: He is not a ''bad'' cook, he just has very... weird tastes in matter of food and ingredients (termites and squid to give examples). Gwen, Ben and most regular humans are creeped out just by looking at this, but some aliens, like Xylene and Rook, are quite fond of it.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Few people would expect this old, slightly obese, cheerful LethalChef to be by far one of the most competent Plumbers ever.
* DeadPartner: Devin Levin. Though Omniverse retcons this into being a fake memory; Devin doesn't exist.
* DemotedToExtra: As of ''Alien Force'', he appears less frequently within the remainder of the franchise's original continuity.
* DependingOnTheWriter: The original series constantly went back and forth on whether Max was out of shape in his old age or fully capable of kicking ass despite it. From ''Alien Force'' onwards, he's almost always depicted as the latter.
* {{Flanderization}}:
** A minor case, but Max's LethalChef tendencies have taken to such an extreme almost every time we see him in ''Omniverse''.
** He also seems to be getting more and more strict in ''Omniverse'', at one point even threatening to send Ben to military school.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Max is ''incredibly'' unsubtle about his experience and knowledge from the very first episode of the original series, right down to having to awkwardly cover up calling Heatblast an alien when Ben and Gwen stare at him for it.
* FutureBadass: Not that he isn't a badass already, but his future self in the Original Series is depicted as having [[HandicappedBadass lost his arm]] and replaced it with a very powerful {{Artificial Limb|s}}, allowing him to help in defeating Dr Animo. ''Omniverse'' revealed he kept operating for an insanely long time, retiring only at the age of ''96'', and gained the grade of Magistratus.
* GadgeteerGenius: He has an extensive knowledge in building numerous gadgets, most notably those that are useful in fighting or confronting against enemies.
* GoOutWithASmile: In "Max Out", Max pulls a HeroicSacrifice taking off the focusing lens of his Null Void projector, turning it into a powerful hand-grenade, in order to take out all of the Highbreed and [=DNAlien=] army. He tells Gwen to cast a mana shield to protect Ben and the boys before saying farewell to them, then smiling and even giving off a wink when he sets off his makeshift explosive. Fortunately, the explosion doesn't kill him and instead transports him to the Null Void.
* HawaiianShirtedTourist: Never seen without his Hawaiian shirt, unless he's in full Plumber gear. Pakmar even refers to him as a "colorful shirt man".
* InterspeciesRomance: His two love interests were both aliens; Verdona, an EnergyBeing, is the mother of his children (since she's a RealityWarper, they are human through and through, save for Gwen). He and Xylene are currently the trope picture for BoldlyComing.
* IWasQuiteALooker: In the flashback episode to his early years, he fulfills this trope in spades. Yum yum.
* JerkassBall: In "Kevin 11". Though to be fair, Ben got them kicked out of a four star hotel that Max already paid for, and Ben insulted him saying that he doesn't always have to listen to him because he's not his dad.
* TheMentor: Max teaches Ben all the things that makes a true hero.
* MentorOccupationalHazard: He fits the role of the old guard mentor figure for TheHero who ''appears'' to die later on.
%%* TheMenInBlack: The Plumbers.
* MissedTheCall: The Omnitrix was sent to Earth with the intent of ''Max'' finding it, not Ben.
* MoralityChain: Sort of, to Ben; at least, he played a large part into making Ben a proper hero; "Store 23" shows us an alternate reality where he died just before Ben got the Omnitrix, causing Ben to become even more narcissistic than he already was, create a Telereality show focused around him, treat all aliens as evil and attempted to ''rip his dimension's Azmuth in half''.
* MyGreatestFailure: He always regretted putting Phil in the Null Void rather than just taking him to prison. This is made all the worse both times Phil returns, the second of which it is revealed that Phil is ''dead'', meaning that Max will never get that second chance.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Most prominently in the original series, but still remains true in all the sequels. Max always does his best to respect his grandchildren, as well as Kevin and Rook later on, and serves as the voice of reason when their impulses get the better of them. He generally only becomes strict with them if the situation absolutely demands it.
* RetiredBadass: ''Formerly'' retired. By ''Omniverse'' (as revealed in a flashback), he's come out of retirement to be a Grand Magister of the Plumbers. In the future, he retired again as a Magistratus!
* TheSpock: In the main trio of the original series, he's the most level-headed among them.
* TokenHuman: Max is the only 100% human member of the main group, as even without alien technology bonded to him, Ben is still part-Anodite due to his heritage.
* TookALevelInBadass: The beginning of the series has him post-retirement from the Plumbers, and clearly not quite in the shape he used to be, even if he can still dive right back into helping Ben fight Vilgax and other assorted bad guys. The further in the original continuity you get, the more Max ''un''-retires, and the more badass he becomes. To give an idea of his threat level, the [=DNAliens=] firmly believe defeating Max would mean no one else stood a chance against them.
* TwoRoadsBeforeYou: Had the chance to be the first man on the moon, but then he was approached to join a certain interstellar organization.
* UnwittingPawn: To the Rooters due to false memory implants. As it turns out, his false memories of Devin Levin were all part of Servantis's plan to make Max feel obliged to look after Kevin.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: A flashback episode in ''Omniverse'' had him looking more like Professor Paradox with a slim build and black hair, as opposed to the brown-haired strongly built appearance he sported in all previous flashbacks.

[[AC:Reboot Series]]
* AdaptationOriginConnection: Inverted: In the Original Series he fought Vilgax long before Ben was even born. In this series, he was as surprised as everyone else of his existence.
* AdaptationalComicRelief: He acts a lot more silly than he used to be.
* AdaptationalWimp: If he was a Plumber in this version, he hasn't kept his skills in good shape. In fact, especially in Season 1, often he was simply not present for the action. [[spoiler:''Alien-X-Tinction'' hints that he was indeed a Plumber, but he's keeping that information from his grandchildren for unknown reasons]].
* ForcedTransformation: He was transformed into a chicken by Animo in "Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom".
* DotingParent: His fighting skill went way down in this version. His love for his grandkids didn't.
* LethalChef: Averted. In this version, Max doesn't have the... ''unique'' taste he is usually associated with and has shown himself to look pretty good-looking food, even being confused at Ben and Gwen competing over eating the weirdest meal out of a cooking festival. He has no problem with eating burned hot dogs, however.
* ManChild: He can get excited about the things he enjoys as much as his grandchildren, sometimes even acting as a young kid. Lampshaded:
-->'''Gwen:''' [groans] "Is this what ''we're'' like when we drag him to the amusement park?"
-->'''Ben:''' [[SelfDeprecation "We probably shouldn't ask questions we don't want answers to."]]
** IncrediblyLameFun: Some of the things he enjoys include bird-watching, a ride for little kids at a park, and being in the "four corners", the place where the borders of four states meet. Not only Ben, but even Gwen (herself an example of this trope) finds most of his choices boring.
-->'''Gwen:''' "Sigh... I remember fun..."
* NotSoAboveItAll: In "Bounty Ball" he asked Ben to use one of his aliens to end the train tour quickly, as only Gwen was finding it exciting.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: He got past a firewall Gwen was struggling with by pretending to hit random keys.
* OutOfFocus: Since the series is more about Ben and Gwen, there isn't a lot of space for him. Downplayed in season two.
* TookALevelInBadass: In "Innervasion" : he threatened Vilgax with a laser cannon, fought the [[spoiler:Fulmini]], and even [[spoiler:transformed into Cannonbolt]].
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He is afraid of goats, due to an accident when he was young.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Meagan Smith (as a preteen), Creator/AshleyJohnson (as a kid, ''Omniverse''; as a teenager), Creator/MontseHernandez (Reboot)

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Within the lineage of the most prominent Tennyson-related female cousins, she's the redhead to Lucy's blonde and Sunny's brunette.

* TheSmartGuy: Gender-inverted. Even at 10 years old, she was ''much'' smarter than the average kid.

* TheSpock: Gwen is consistently portrayed as the most logical thinker of the group, regardless of series.

* GirlinessUpgrade: She is significantly more feminine than she was back when she was 10/11 years old.

%%* TeamMom

%%* GadgeteerGenius

* MyGreatestFailure: He always regretted putting Phil in the Null Void rather than just taking him to prison. This is made all the worse both times Phil returns, the second of which it is revealed that Phil is ''dead'', meaning that Max will never get that second chance.

%%* TheKirk:

* DemotedToExtra: In ''Omniverse'', as she's later attending college for her academics, where her now-boyfriend Kevin joins her.

* {{Mana}}: This is what she gains (and what she's made of) in the sequels, thus making her a late bloomer in using them completely. Because she's part-Anodite through her grandmother, Verdona, she has the ability to manipulate mana, or life energy. This also explains why she was able to do magic in the original series - magic is actually mana manipulation, and being part-EnergyBeing makes one like Gwen ''really'' good at it. It's also why she's more powerful than spellcasters like Charmcaster despite the latter studying, something that Charmcaster envies her for.

* TrueBlueFemininity: Save for ''Ultimate Alien'' and ''Alien Force'' season three, she's almost always in blue, and is the most prominent female in Ben's team.
* {{Tsundere}}: Type A when she was younger. She does care about Ben, but she seems to be near unable to express her affection for him other than by arguing with him. She even mentioned twice that no one can treat him like trash but her. Starting with ''Alien Force'', she becomes a Type B tsundere, but towards Kevin and Ben.

* {{Mana}}: This is what she gains (and what she's made of) in the sequels. Because she's part-Anodite through her grandmother, Verdona, she has the ability to manipulate mana, or life energy. This also explains why she was able to do magic in the original series - magic is actually mana manipulation, and being part-EnergyBeing makes one like Gwen ''really'' good at it. It's also why she's more powerful than spellcasters like Charmcaster despite the latter studying, something that Charmcaster envies her for.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Gwen is Kevin's girlfriend in the later series and that's the only romantic relationship we see her in, but her recurring nemesis Charmcaster's jealousy and competition with Gwen changes into something resembling PseudoRomanticFriendship (complete with some slightly catty compliments and Gwen being annoyed that both her cousin and boyfriend find Charmcaster "hot"), especially once her DarkAndTroubledPast is revealed. In the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse final series]] and Charmcaster's last canon appearance, Gwen is hopeful that she can start a real friendship with her now that [[spoiler: she's trapped in her own magic pouch and Gwen is basically acting as her parole officer, which admittedly isn't too far from what she and Ben did with Kevin]].

* WomenAreWiser: Not as much as the old version, but she still got a lot of advice to give Ben.

* DeadpanSnarker: Even in a trio where all three members are snarky teenagers, Kevin is easily the biggest one of the three and drops sarcastic comments at nearly every opportunity. His dry sense of humor is actually the main source of comic relief throughout ''Alien Force'' and ''Ultimate Alien''.

* HeroesWantRedheads: [[OfficialCouple Kevin]] certainly does. So does [[HopelessSuitor Cooper]].

* HeroesWantRedHeads: As evidenced by Verdona, who took the form of a red-haired human in the WholeEpisodeFlashback.

* BloodBrothers: With Ben, by his own admission towards Proctor Servantis.

* LethalChef: He is not a ''bad'' cook, he just has very... weird tastes in matter of food and ingredients (termites and squid to give examples). Gwen, Ben and most regular humans are creeped out just by looking at this, but some aliens, like Xylene and Rook, are quite fond of it.

* HyperCompetentSidekick: Played with; Ben is far from incompetent and has much more experience, but Rook still displays much more impressive fighting skills and ways to deal with situations.

%%* DeadpanSnarker: Post-{{Flanderization}}.

%%* VoiceOfTheLegion: Her Anodite form.

* NiceGuy: In notable contrast with Gwen's and Kevin's snarkiness in the original series and ''Alien Force'' respectively, Rook appears to be a nice person who genuinely admires and respects Ben.