History Characters / Ben10BenTennyson

-->"[[CatchPhrase It's Hero Time]]!"

* CatchPhrase: "''Going Hero''" in the original series and "''It's Hero Time!''" ''Alien Force'' onwards. He also frequently says "''Aw Man!''" when a situation is bad or the Omnitrix gives him the wrong alien (usually Grey Matter).

** No matter how many times Rook points it out, he constantly refuses to acknowledge Ester has the hots for him and their relationship is more than JustFriends.

* TookALevelInJerkass: To an extent. There are episodes in ''Omniverse'' where 16-year-old Ben can be a bigger jerk than he ever was in the third season of ''Alien Force'', such as taking credit for one of Rook's ideas, inexplicably treating Jimmy Jones like TheLoad, mocking his enemies or being generally uncaring of [[DestructiveSavior the damages he causes in inhabited areas]]. His ChronicHeroSyndrome also tends to be very toned down compared to the previous iterations. In the ''Galactic Monster'' story arc, he shows little concern about taking care of Zs'Skayr and was even going to leave Anur Transyl with him still on the run.
* TookALevelInKindness: It's zig-zagged, but he's genuinely appreciative of Gwen and is almost regretful of his past brattiness when his mind was swapped with his 11 year old self in "Ben Again". His sheer politeness and constant apologies for his behavior unnerve 11 year old Gwen, who initially thinks he's just messing around with her, and when he tells her that he misses her she thinks she's ''died'' rather than that she just moved out of town.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Downplayed. Ben usually follows this principle and does his best to keep his enemies alive, but does not hesitate to kill the most heinous of them, such as Vilgax, Zs'Skayr, Malware, and Maltruant (although most of them come back anyway due to JokerImmunity). Interestingly, the Highbreed are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName alien Nazis bent on genocide]], so killing them would be 100% acceptable, but Ben still aims to defeat them without killing them, [[spoiler:even more so after realizing they were dying out, and he succeeds]]. ''Ultimate Alien'' really pushes how far he's willing to disregard this rule, first by his resolve to kill Ultimate Kevin, and later his threat to kill the Forever Knights if they don't stop hunting aliens. Ben affirms this view and elaborates on it in ''Omniverse''; taking a life, human or alien, is a serious deal, and once you do so, there’s no going back.

* DeadpanSnarker: Ben is often cracking jokes or delivering sarcasm during battle. He also regularly engages Gwen with SnarkToSnarkCombat during the original series, and soon with her and Kevin during Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, then moving on to Rook in Omniverse.

* EasilyImpressed: Despite being the owner of quite possibly the most powerful tool in the universe (or multiverse...omniverse?) he can find himself awestruck and captivated by the most mundane of things. [[DownplayedTrope This gets downplayed]] in ''Alien Force'' and ''Ultimate Alien'', but comes back in full force in ''Omniverse''. For instance, in the ''Omniverse'' episode, "Third Time's the Charm", of all the magical sorcery he bears witness too, the thing that amazes him most is... [[PickACard a card trick]].

* ThouShaltNotKill: Downplayed. Ben usually follows this principle and does his best to keep his enemies alive, but does not hesitate to kill the most heinous of them, such as Vilgax, Zs'Skayr, Malware, and Maltruant (although most of them come back anyway due to JokerImmunity). Interestingly, the Highbreed are [[ANaziByAnyOtherName alien Nazis bent on genocide]], so killing them would be 100% acceptable, but Ben still aims to defeat them without killing them, [[spoiler:even more so after realizing they were dying out, and he succeeds]]. ''Ultimate Alien'' really pushes how far he's willing to disregard this rule, first by his resolve to kill Ultimate Kevin, and later his threat to kill the Forever Knights if they don't stop hunting aliens.

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* ThouShaltNotKill: Downplayed. Ben usually follows this principle and does his best to keep his enemies alive, but does not hesitate to kill the most heinous of them, such as Vilgax, Zs'Skayr, Malware, and Maltruant (although most of them come back anyway due to JokerImmunity). ''Ultimate Alien'' really pushes how far he's willing to disregard this rule, first by his resolve to kill Ultimate Kevin, and later his threat to kill the Forever Knights if they don't stop hunting aliens.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: "A New Dawn" has Ben's transformations inspire a young Vilgax to develop an interest in obtaining the Omnitrix, meaning Ben was just as responsible for ''his'' ArchEnemy as he was for Ben.

* ButtMonkey: In the original series, often as a result of his own actions. It stopped in the ''Alien Force''/''Ultimate Alien'' era, but for some reason, the writers decided to bring it back in ''Omniverse''.

* TheChosenOne: In the finale of ''Ultimate Alien'', Azmuth finally admits Ben is worthy and gives him the final version of the Omnitrix.

[[caption-width-right:165:''"It's hero time!"'']]

* SurvivorGuilt: Ben suffers from this briefly during the original series story ''WesternAnimation/Ben10SecretOfTheOmnitrix'' after he thinks that Gwen was killed [[TakingTheBullet after being grabbed by an wild Florauna.]] Don't worry, she got better.

[[folder:Alien Force and Ultimate Alien]]

** In "Hit'em Where They Live", Ben chastises Gwen for letting Zombozo's alliance kidnap his mother, Sandra when she was supposed to protect her. Conversely, Kevin calls out on Ben's callousness when Gwen regrets failing to protect her aunt. Afterwards, Ben backs down and apologizes to Gwen for his harsh behavior.

* AesopAmnesia: Ben has always suffered from a tendency to forget the lessons he's learned, but a few instances in ''Omniverse'' stand out even by his standards. He forgets a ''lot'' for someone who'd been deemed worthy of the new Omnitrix by Azmuth in the ''Ultimate Alien'' finale.

--->'''Ben (as Ditto):''' Three against one? No problem, when that one is Ben Tennyson.

* CantTakeCriticism: When Rook called him out for his attitude, in response, Ben challenges him to a fight, only to be declined.

* TookALevelInJerkass: To an extent. There are episodes in ''Omniverse'' where 16-year-old Ben can be a bigger jerk than he ever was in the third season of ''Alien Force'', such as taking credit for one of Rook's ideas, inexplicably treating Jimmy Jones like TheLoad, mocking his enemies or being generally uncaring of [[DestructiveSavior the damages he causes in inhabited areas]]. His ChronicHeroSyndrome also tends to be very toned down compared to the previous installments. In the ''Galactic Monster'' story arcs, he shows little concern about taking care of Zs'Skayr and was even going to leave Anur Transyl with him still on the run.

** Amazingly, ''Omniverse'' placed this even further by flanderizing him ''again''. While he always was immature and obnoxious back in the original series, ''Omniverse'' flanderizes the younger, original series era Ben (who is presented as being 11 years old in the flashback sequences) through exaggerating his immature, bumbling, and obnoxious IdiotHero traits and exaggerating them.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Had a fear of clowns when he was younger. He got over it in [[MookHorrorShow one of the coolest ways imaginable]]. Unfortunately, this fear relapsed in ''Omniverse''.

** Not quite "all", but in the last part of "Innervasion" he transforms into an amalgam of [[spoiler:Four Arms, [=XLR8=], Diamondhead and Heatblast ]].

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->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TaraStrong (as a preteen), Creator/YuriLowenthal (as a teenager)

* DeadpanSnarker: Ben is often cracking jokes or delivering sarcasm during battle and regularly engages Gwen with SnarktoSnarkCombat during the original series.

* BelligerentSexualTension: He and Kai had this dynamic in "An American Benwolf in London".

* {{Flanderization}}: As with every series, his maturity heavily [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the needs of the plot]], but Ben in ''Omniverse'' is considerably more prone to the obnoxious, immature, and narcissistic tendencies he had back in the third season of ''Alien Force''. Thanks to the DenserAndWackier tone, his ButtMonkey status from the original series is brought back to boot and exaggerated as well.

* RedOniBlueOni: He's the red to Rook's Blue.

* TookALevelInDumbass: Ben has struggled to maintain his maturity across nearly the entire show, but after ''Ultimate Alien'' leaned toward a more balanced and levelheaded personality, ''Omniverse'' tends to lean more toward his arrogant and bumbling traits from ''Alien Force'' season 3. DependingOnTheWriter, he's either a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass or just plain stupid.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Ben, ''especially'' from the third season of ''Alien Force'' onwards, in constantly zigzagging between being a narcissistic jerk and a responsible, inspiring hero. Each era of the show tends to lean toward one or the other, but how mature he acts in any given episode depends heavily on the needs of the plot.

* OverprotectiveDad: To his future son, Kenny.
* PapaWolf: In the future, he's very protective of his son. He's even protective of his ''younger'' self. Considering how much he changes in the future, it's kind of justified.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: He occasionally does this in ''Omniverse''.

* SuperHero: He is very insistent on being referred to as such.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Ben lives by this principle and refuses to flat out kill anyone. If they're too dangerous, such as with Kevin's rampage, he will abandon this rule altogether.

* AesopAmnesia: Even lampshaded in ''Destroy All Aliens'':

* BrattyHalfPint: A heroic example.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Played with & Zigzagged, the Feminine Boy to Gwen' Masculine Girl.

* RedOniBlueOni: Red to Gwen's Blue.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: As a kid, he was a rare heroic example; less so as a teenager, though he is still willing to do it if it overlaps with ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight.

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Exaggerated in season 3 of ''Alien Force''. In ''Ultimate Alien'''s first season finale he cops to this. A special case in that there is no ResetButton.

* CoolCar: He has one in ''Alien Force'' and ''Ultimate Alien''.

* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: Toward Captain Nemesis. [[BrokenPedestal It doesn't end well]].

* RedOniBlueOni: Blue to Kevin's Red.

* WeaponOfChoice: Transformation, to be specific. Ben's go-to forms for most problems tend to be aliens that deal in [[TheBigGuy both superhuman size and strength]] like Four Arms, Humungousaur, and Rath. ''Omniverse'' introduces Feedback through {{Flashback}}s whom he uses almost exclusively and ends up {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ing this reliance on specific aliens.

* BookDumb: Ben generally isn't portrayed as a very good student, though whether he actually is bad at it or just too lazy depends on the series.

* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** Even though he sometimes acts a bit egocentric and immature, Ben is still a nice, kind-hearted, and deeply altruistic guy. But anger him and you ''will'' regret it. This is especially visible in ''Ultimate Alien'', where it's shown at several points that Ben, when pushed too far, can become downright brutal. The whole point of the show seemed to have Ben struggling to not become a KnightTemplar.

* CharacterDevelopment: He is more mature and serious compared to how he was back when he was a kid.

* GoodIsNotDumb: ''Alien Force''/''Ultimate Alien'' was by far the era where Ben was the smartest.

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Ultimate Alien!Ben 10,000 gives Ben all of his locked aliens that he'd used up to that point along with some new ones in the middle of ''Ultimate Alien'''s second season. [[spoiler:He also brought back Swampfire and Waybig after the two were eroded into dust by Eon]].
* OlderAndWiser: Significantly smarter and wiser than his 10 years old counterpart. He is still a kid at heart, but he actually listens to advice, accepts others' help, thinks before acting and is less likely to suffer AesopAmnesia.

* {{Pride}}: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. By the first season finale of ''Ultimate Alien'', he outright states that he's grown tired of what comes along with his fame. In fact, the constant pestering due to his fame and the time it took up was revealed to be a major factor for his [[spoiler:relationship with Julie taking a big hit]].

* SuperDickery: Season 3 of ''Alien Force'' had a whole episode with the Plumber's Helpers attempting to stop an apparently psychotic Ben from killing them and Max while they were trapped on a space station. Of course, [[spoiler:it turns out he was just acting like he had gone rogue as part of a test pulled out by Max for the Helpers]], but Ben was still scarily good at acting evil.
* TookALevelInDumbass: In season 3 of ''Alien Force'' the writers tried PanderingToTheFanbase in a failed attempt to make him more like his 10 years old self, and he started acting more narcissistic and cocky again. Entirely justified in-universe in that saving the Universe went to his head and it only lasts for the first couple of episodes.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In the third season of ''Alien Force'', due to letting his hero status getting the best of him.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:In "Showdown, Part 2", Ben is finally able to transform into Feedback again, five years after Malware destroyed the form]].
* AesopAmnesia: Around half of what he learnt over the course of the original series and the previous sequels have been completely forgotten in this iteration.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: "A New Dawn" has Ben's transformations [[spoiler:inspire a young Vilgax to develop an interest in obtaining the Omnitrix, meaning Ben was just as responsible for ''his'' ArchEnemy as he was for Ben]].

* DependingOnTheWriter: Although he's [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]], there are episodes where he regains his maturity.

* {{Flanderization}}: The obnoxious, immature, and narcissistic tendencies he had back in the third season of ''Alien Force'' are amplified in this iteration, with his ButtMonkey status from the Original Series brought back to boot and exaggerated as well.

* ItHasBeenAnHonor: [[spoiler:In "The Final Countdown", when it looked like they would die on the base via explosion, Rook tells this to Ben proudly. Ben just responds with a smile of his own]].

* TookALevelInDumbass: This trope is taken to {{Flanderization}} levels on both his 16-year-old self ''and'' his 11-year old self, making them both much more bumbling, clumsy, and immature while removing a large amount of his badassery from ''Alien Force''. DependingOnTheWriter, he's either a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass or just plain stupid.
* TookALevelInJerkass: To an extent, there are episodes in ''Omniverse'' as well where 16-year-old Ben can be a bigger jerk than he ever was in the third season of ''Alien Force'', such as taking credit for one of Rook's ideas, inexplicably treating Jimmy Jones like TheLoad, mocking his enemies or being generally uncaring of [[DestructiveSavior the damages he causes in inhabited areas]]. His ChronicHeroSyndrome also tends to be very toned down compared to the previous installments. In the ''Galactic Monster'' story arcs, he shows little concern about taking care of Zs'Skayr and was even going to leave Anur Transyl with him still on the run.

* TraumaButton: Mentioning [[spoiler:Feedback]] is this to him. When Rook brings it up in "Showdown Part 1", he immediately becomes closed off and tries to change the subject.

'''Rook:''' Tell me about [[spoiler:''Feedback'']].\\

* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler:In the finale of ''Ultimate Alien'', Azmuth finally admits Ben is worthy and gives him the final version of the Omnitrix]].

* LivingLegend: Gradually becomes this over the course of the series. By ''Ommniverse'', his exploits form a chapter and a half of required reading at the Plumber's Academy.
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Though not clearly specified, it's implied Ben's personality changes according to the form he has. Most of them only cause relatively minor effects (Big Chill is a bit more of a DeadpanSnarker, Spider-Monkey is more excited, etc.), while others will lead to drastic change (Rath is a [[LargeHam Hammy]] LeeroyJenkins, Alien X has three personalities, and [[spoiler:Ghostfreak can [[SuperpoweredEvilSide take over his mind if not careful]]]]). In "Frogs of War", his new [[spoiler:Incursean form Bullfrag]] has an outspoken attraction for [[spoiler:Princess Attea]], which he blames on the [=DNA=].

* VoluntaryShapeshifting[=/=]ComboPlatterPowers: His main ability provided by the Omnitrix is to turn into various alien creatures, each one with its own set of powers. He started out limited to ten forms (hence his surname), only to get more and more as the story goes on. By now, he is assumed to possess more than seventy forms. [[spoiler:His future self has 10,000 alien forms unlocked, and according to Azmuth, the maximum unlockable alien forms in the ''Alien Force'' era was of more than one million]].
* WeaponOfChoice: Transformation, to be specific. Ben's go-to forms for most problems tend to be aliens that deal in [[TheBigGuy both superhuman size and strength]] like Fourarms, Humongousaur, and Rath. ''Omniverse'' introduces Feedback through {{Flashback}}s whom he uses almost exclusively [[spoiler:and ends up {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ing this reliance on specific aliens]].

** [[spoiler:This is eventually defied in the episode "Of Predators And Prey: Part 1", where Ben dumps Rook as a partner. To make matters worse, he gets captured by Khyber in the end. Then it's revealed that Ben and Rook planned this all along and only ''pretended'' to argue with one another (although Rook didn't catch that part when he went into his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech)]].

* HowDoIShotWeb:
** Ben initially had a hard time learning how to use the Omnitrix by his own, even causing his first transformation by accident. In the original series, he was able to activate the transformations, but would easily pick up the wrong alien and couldn't decide when he would turn back to normal, forcing him to wait for the time limit to be reached. By the time of ''Alien Force'', however, he has learned how to switch between aliens and turn back to normal of his own.
** He has a difficult learning curve when he ''just'' obtains a new alien, such as with Cannonbolt. It was downplayed for ''Alien Force'' and ''Ultimate Alien'', with Ben figuring out how to use most of the aliens rather fast (likely due to having similar powers to his original roster). ''Omniverse'' brings back the learning curve a bit, having problems with Bloxx and Gravattack at first (especially with the latter, due to the fact he had difficulties figuring out what Gravattack could do).

* MadnessMantra: He gets one in Secret of the Omnitrix [[spoiler:after Gwen "dies"]].
-->"It should've been me, It should've been me"

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Had a fear of clowns when he was younger. He got over it in [[MookHorrorShow one of the coolest ways imaginable]]. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, this fear relapsed in ''Omniverse'']].
* WideEyedIdealist: Ben suffers from ChronicHeroSyndrome; he trusts people and always tries to give second chances, even during Kevin's [[TheSociopath sociopathic stage]] in the old show. When he drops this and resolves to [[spoiler:[[ShootTheDog kill Ultimate Kevin]]]] in ''Ultimate Alien'', Grandpa Max himself notes that it's a sign of [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness just how bad things have gotten]].

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: The original series portrayed him as a rather generic BrattyHalfPint IdiotHero with one big ChronicHeroSyndrome. ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'''s first two seasons then matured him into a responsible leader with some MessianicArchetype tendencies and amplified his chronic hero syndrome; in season 3, the writers took the liberty of making him more like his younger, immature self... [[TookALevelInDumbass a little too much like his younger self]]. Fortunately, by ''Ultimate Alien'', they moderate his competence and silliness as opposed to focusing on one or the other. ''Omniverse'' dials down the immaturity somewhat and instead focuses more on the fact that he's been in this superhero business for years and thus knows the ups, downs, lefts, and rights, likely to [[{{Foil}} contrast]] him with Rook's heavy training but small experience in the field (although he suffers from a massive case of {{Flanderization}}).

* IdiotHero: DependingOnTheWriter; over the course of the franchise, he has been variably portrayed as truly stupid, only [[BrilliantButLazy perfectly capable of being smart but too immature to bother doing so most of the time]] or even sometimes as a borderline {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. That being said, he has enough moments of cleverness to make his IdiotHero status an InformedAttribute.

* UnskilledButStrong: In the original series, Ben's entire fighting style revolved around this. His typical response to a threat was to use one of his strength-based aliens, such as Fourarms and Diamondhead, and simply rush at the bad guys to beat them senseless. From ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'' onwards, however, he is more tactical with his aliens and [[BoxingLessonsForSuperman takes martial arts lessons]] to minimize his reliance on the Omnitrix. Nevertheless, WordOfGod confirms that, out of all three members of the PowerTrio, Ben is the least skilled hand-to-hand fighter. It also states that if Ben and Kevin were to fight each other while BroughtDownToNormal, Kevin would win.

* AesopAmnesia:
** Around half of what he learnt over the course of the original series and the previous sequels have been completely forgotten in this iteration.

* BerserkButton: Trying to hurt any innocent people. [[LetsGetDangerous Then he will get serious and beat the crap out of you]]. [[UnstoppableRage God help you]] if you actually ''succeeded'' in harming someone...

** Even though he sometimes acts a bit egocentric and immature, Ben is still a nice, kind-hearted, and deeply altruistic guy. But push his BerserkButton, and you ''will'' regret it. Captain Nemesis, Aggregor and Discroll found out the hard way.
** This is especially visible in ''Ultimate Alien'', where it's shown at several points that Ben, when pushed too far, can become downright brutal. The whole point of the show seemed to have Ben struggling to not become a KnightTemplar.