Ben Tennyson

**Benjamin Kirby "Ben" Tennyson** is a normal ten-year-old kid until he found the Omnitrix, a powerful watch-like device that allowed him to turn into ten different aliens. Though initially immature and clumsy, Ben grew to be a true hero. By the time he was sixteen, he had become famous in not only his hometown of Bellwood but on Earth and beyond. Ben has also been deputized by the Plumbers and gained more aliens as time progressed.

## Appearance

Ben's physical appearance has changed throughout the series from a ten-year-old to a sixteen-year-old. However, he retains some recurring characteristics. He has shaggy brown hair, green eyes, pale skin, and he's quite skinny for his age, though he shows a lot of muscle definition due to being athletic.

### Regular Appearances

In the first season, he wore a black shirt, blue jeans and a green jacket with white stripes and the number 10 on it, white socks, and black and white Converse-style shoes. Ben wore the prototype Omnitrix in **Alien Force** and the Ultimatrix in **Ultimate Alien** on his left wrist.

## Personality

Initially cocky, childish, and arrogant, Ben's immaturity and attention-seeking behavior often led him to joke around, regardless of the situation. His allies often criticized his attitude, unaware of the fact that he used humor to mask his fears. Despite some childish attitude, he was heroic, caring and generally good-natured, always willing to save others at any time.

Over the years, Ben has displayed good leadership skills, as well as the ability to adapt his attitude to a situation, becoming serious when it's called for. He became more mature, responsible and sensible. He's kind-hearted, willing to sacrifice even his own life for others. His idealistic views and unwillingness to compromise his values – aspects condemned by Azmuth, yet commended by others – sometimes drive him to act against reason, such as helping his enemies if they need it (most remarkably Vilgax). Professor Paradox has praised Ben's good nature, going so far as to say he had the gift to make the right choices at the right moments. Also, Ben doesn't give up and wouldn't let anyone stop him from doing what's right for those in need, especially his family, friends and mentors, or to bring enemies down, even when he once got a broken arm.

However, when Ben fails to save someone, or if someone gets hurt because of his failures, he becomes angry and much more violent. Perhaps the most notable of these instances is when Kevin willingly mutated himself to succeed where Ben had failed and stop Aggregor, Ben was set on killing Kevin, even fighting Gwen when she refused to help him. He also threatened to hunt down and destroy the Forever Knights once making Driscoll promise to cease the hunting of aliens.

Though often stated to be silly or unintelligent because of his immaturity, Ben is cunning and resourceful when needed, quickly adapting when the Omnitrix doesn't provide him with the alien he wanted.

Later on, Ben starts thinking of himself as more of a superhero than a Plumber, often remarking that he's not a cop, but a superhero. Although he once again became cocky, he retained his selfless and heroic nature.

## Powers and Abilities

Ben is a crafty fighter, having trained in hand-to-hand combat by black belt Gwen and Max. He has also received basic Plumber training, having succeeded in the Plumbers' Academy with a 95 out of a 100. On top of that, he has gained experience from various years of fighting aliens.

Ben is quite agile and acrobatic, being able to easily dodge shots from Manny's blasters before disarming him while in human form.

Ben actually uses freestyle fighting, being able to hold his own against Pierce. Max has hinted that Ben was a highly-skilled fighter, even as a human.

It is evident that Ben is smart in some respects, possessing an above-average intelligence. Gwen even stated that he really is not working up to his potential at school. He also has fairly moderate grades, maintaining a B+ average in his toughest subjects Physics and Chemistry.

Ben has an extraordinarily sharp memory, as he was perfectly capable of remembering and writing down the mystic rune-like symbols for entering the inter-dimensional realm of Ledgerdomain with just one glance from a distance. This is even more true for things that interest him.

Ben is a cross dominant, skillfully wielding tools and weapons in either hand, in human or alien form.

Ben has a knack for turning his weaknesses into strengths.

Ben is surprisingly a natural at hoverboard-based combat, which generally requires intensive training and the use of holographic simulators. This is most likely because he can snowboard.

Ben has remarkable pilot skills that function like a combination of playing video games and tap lessons Sandra made him take, but he would never admit it.

Ben is a decent musician, as he can play the guitar.

### Equipment

Ben is the wielder of the Ultimatrix and Omnitrix), which gave him the power to modify his own genetic code in order to turn into various alien creatures. When transforming into an alien, Ben gets all the creature's features, including its appearance, voice, all of its unique and special abilities and powers, strengths and weaknesses. Though he mostly retains his personality, there are some cases where the transformation causes a change in it, like with Rath and Juryrigg.

Though he usually uses his alien forms to fight, he can impersonate aliens as he did with Water Hazard to convince P'andor to go home, though he was only successful at getting P'andor to believe he was Bivalvan.

In addition to transforming into aliens, the Ultimatrix included what is referred as an "evolutionary function", that allowed Ben to evolve his alien forms in order to get upgraded versions of them, referred to as Ultimate Forms.

In addition to the primary transformations and evolutionary function, the Omnitrices and Ultimatrix can both be used for various purposes. Both have a built-in Universal Translator that allows Ben to communicate with most aliens that do not speak English.

The prototype Omnitrix displayed the ability to manipulate and repair genetic damage, a function he used to cure DNAliens and save the Highbreed from extinction. Azmuth also mentioned that Ben could use the prototype Omnitrix to bring back to life any species stored on Primus.

The Omnitrix also has a failsafe to help prevent Ben from dying. If Ben is in mortal danger and the Omnitrix is in recharge mode, it will automatically go into active mode.

## Weaknesses

 File:5 year old ben is fear of clowns(1).png
Whenever the Omnitrix times out, Ben is left powerless until he either dodges or switches to a new alien form. In addition to gaining the selected alien's powers and strengths, he gains its weaknesses.

Whenever Ben unlocks a new alien form, he is at a disadvantage of not knowing its abilities and weaknesses until he gains experience with using that alien.

Though he has matured substantially since receiving the original Omnitrix, he is still a teenager with much to learn and is prone to irrational impulses and recklessness.

Despite his experience in using the Omnitrices and Ultimatrix, Ben still does not know every function of them. Due to his inquisitive nature and impatience, he has accidentally unlocked new functions such as the Master Control and the randomizer, which can at times do more harm than good.

Though the current Omnitrix is designed to work only for him, Ben still has not mastered it. According to Azmuth, Ben may get the Master Control on his 18th birthday.

The Omnitrix does not actually mistransform, but rather it is due to Ben hitting the Omnitrix too hard, thereby causing the time-out function to select another alien at random.

At times, the natural biological behavior of certain aliens can override Ben's behavior, such as Big Chill's reproductive phase or Swampfire's blossoming process.

Any illness Ben is experiencing in his human form will affect his alien forms.

Ben appears to have a short attention span at times, and more often than not it can get him into trouble.

Ben has an allergy to peanuts.

Ben has coulrophobia (i.e. the fear of clowns), which was indirectly caused by Max.

Ben's worst fear is that of peacocks.

Ben is not immune to Corrodium and will be mutated when exposed to this mineral unless he either wears special protection or transforms into an alien.

Ben's left eye twitches whenever he tells a lie, but only Kevin appears to notice this.

Despite his piloting skills, Kevin is considered to be a better pilot than Ben.

Ben's worst subject is Physics, followed by Chemistry.

Ben is vulnerable to being erased from existence by a Chronosapien Time Bomb.

Ben can be banished back to his original timelines by a Chronosapien, as demonstrated with some of his alternate counterparts.

Ben can experience pain from electricity, such as that generated by a Nosedeenian.

## Trivia

* Ben will have a glorious future. Azmuth even said that Professor Paradox once told him of Ben's "grand destiny" and that Ben would be "the legendary being who..." before Paradox cut him short.
* Ben's history now has to be read at the Plumbers' Academy. It comprises approximately a "chapter and a half."
* Gwen's birthday is in December, which would put Ben's in December too, as they both share the same birthday. Their rivalry in the original series was caused by this.
* Ben has received an honorary doctorate degree from Friedkin University.
* Ben does not have good table manners.
* Ben returns to shouting the names of his aliens because they were asserting their identity as they gained consciousness, as well as to strike fear into his opponents.
	+ It was Dwayne McDuffie's idea to have Ben shout the names of his aliens, as he thought it would help younger fans know the aliens' names.
* In **Alien Force**, Ben was in his freshman year of high school.
	+ In **Ultimate Alien**, his teachers were not nice on grading him, but they were fine with his bad attendance record.
	+ Ben still goes to school in **Omniverse**, but not much. He can get an excused absence very easily, and his assistance to the Plumbers counts as work-study.
* Ben considers both Rook and Kevin his best friend.
* Ben still owns several black T-shirts.
* Ben sometimes goes to Undertown just to hang out.
* Ben sometimes thinks about moving to an apartment or Plumber Headquarters due to the trouble he brings to his home.
* Ben knows some things about the original Ultimatrix that Eunice doesn't, and vice versa.
* Ben passed the third grade by choosing C for all the answers on multiple-choice tests.
* Ben's favorite color is green and his favorite food is Chili Fries.
* Ben's favorite drink as a teenager is smoothies from Mr. Smoothy's, despite hating it when he was 11 years old.
	+ He is still searching for his favorite smoothie flavor. Up until *So Long, and Thanks for All the Smoothies*, he never tried the same flavor twice.
* Ben's first crush was Patty Berkinfield from 3rd grade.
* Ben has a scar on his body in the shape of New Jersey.
* Ben hates mushrooms, though this may have been a consequence of his ordeal with the Living Mushrooms.
* Ben owns a Tetramand flag in his bedroom.
* Ben has a habit of referring to other members of his aliens' species by the names he gives his aliens because he does not know the names of most of his aliens' species.
	+ As such, he is often surprised on hearing them, such as when he learned from Hokestar that Bloxx is a Segmentasapien, but never admits to this.
* When Ben was 10, he used to sleep with his teddy bear, called Furry Freddy. However, Ben defended himself saying that Furry Freddy had his own bed, which happened to be right next to his.
* According to both Azmuth and Sir George, Ben is the same as they were when they were young.
* Before the events of the original series:
	+ Ben and Gwen once did not speak to each other for two months over an argument about a stick of gum.
	+ At one point, the arguing between Ben and Gwen had gotten so bad that their parents refused to take vacations together anymore.
* During the road trip in the original series:
	+ Disliking Max's cooking was one of the few things Ben and Gwen agreed on.
	+ Ben was secretly sorry for what happened to Kevin.
	+ Ben still had gym clothes from the first grade in his gym locker.
* Sumo Slammers is Ben's favorite game, book, and TV show - followed by Space Pirates and Weird World.
* When he was younger, Ben's high energy often got him into trouble. As he got older, he learned to focus that energy into sports.
* Ben has a lot of pull with the Plumbers.
* Ben has other friends than the ones seen onscreen, but his coming out of retirement in **Alien Force** pushed them away.
* Ben misses the good old days when he used to hang out with Gwen and Kevin without being mobbed by fans.
	+ In fact, while fighting Ultimate Kevin as Ultimate Echo Echo, Ben admitted that he truly hates being famous and wishes he had his secret identity back.
* Ben has not thought about his career plan at all.
* The reason Ben plays soccer as a goalie is because Dwayne McDuffie used to play competitive soccer as an All-State Goalie in school.
	+ Ben still plays soccer when he can.
* Many voice actors auditioned to voice Ben in **Alien Force**. Yuri Lowenthal was called back multiple times before landing the role.
* Derrick J. Wyatt compares Ben to Scott Pilgrim.
* As of **Omniverse**, Ben's shoe size is 10.

## See Also

* Ben Tennyson and Julie Yamamoto
* Ben's Team
* DX Mark 10
* Tenn-Speed
* Ultimatrix
* Omnitrix

1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Where the Magic Happens`