What Could Have Been / Ben 10

Yes, the transformations were based on human superheroes instead of weird-looking aliens in the earliest concepts

.

Ben 10

• The initial pitch of the show seemed to be inspired by Dial H for Hero; Ben Tennyson's prototype transformations were more along the lines of human superheroes, rather than Starfish Aliens. In fact, the transformations were conceived as versions of himself from different dimensions where he had evolved differently but was simplified to aliens to make it more comprehensible to kids.
• Ben himself◊ was initially designed with Youthful Freckles and red hair.
• In the initial pitch Max "Grandpa Max" Tennyson was going to be a scientist who flew a blimp instead of a former plumber who drives an RV.
• Gwen was initially written as a classmate who happened to be friends with Ben, but otherwise had no familial relation to him. Although unconfirmed, the most likely reason for Gwen being rewritten as a cousin was so that it would be easier to justify her being on a long road trip with Ben and Max. This is referenced via a Development Gag in the What If? episode "Goodbye and Good Riddance", where Ben and Gwen become classmates at the end of the episode in order to better combat villains that might attack their hometown.
• Cannonbolt was originally meant to be in the original set of 10 aliens, but was eventually dropped in favor of Diamondhead. His early design◊ looked more like an insect (somewhat like Ball Weevil), and he had two shells in each side of his head, along with knobs which would pop up.
• "Inferno" was considered as a name for Heatblast. Amusingly, this name was used for the Polish, French and Italian dubs.
• Blitzwolfer went through numerous designs before being finalized.
• Several designs were considered for Upchuck; two of them ended up re-used for future aliens Spitter and Articguana, and two more became villains in "Ken 10."

Ben 10: Alien Force

An early concept of teenage Ben, right around the time “Alien Force” was "Hero Generation".

• Man of Action's idea for the sequel series was Ben 10: Hero Generation, in which a teenage Ben and Gwen would become mentors to a group of kids with mysterious alien powers. However, Cartoon Network gave the sequel project over to Glen Murakami and Dwayne McDuffie, and Ben 10: Alien Force was developed instead. While some remnants of Man of Action's concept can be found with the "Plumber's Helpers" characters, they take a backseat to the action and are not mentored by Ben and Gwen, who instead fight evil alongside a reformed Kevin instead.
• One of the writers said that there was a big story planned for season three that involved Kevin absorbing more energy (presumably to save Gwen) and fighting against the insanity that comes with it but ultimately becoming evil. Cartoon Network approved it at first but then they chickened out at the last minute, so the writers had to scrap that story and start a new arc for the season from scratch. This same story was rescued for the first season of Ultimate Alien but with a different approach, in particular with a happy ending.
• The Dragon from Be-Knighted was originally planned to be revisited, but ultimately the plot point wasn't revisited.

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

• The Negative 10 were considered for the series, but were considered too expensive.
• It was originally going to be called Ben 10: Evolutions and was shortened to Ben 10: Evolution before it was changed into the current title.

Ben 10: Omniverse

• The alien dog that used to be Khyber's and was adopted by Kevin was planned to be in "Frogs of War", but the scene had to be cut for time.
• Ball Weevil's concept name was "Collectiball." This was changed when it was discovered there was a product with the same name. Derrick Wyatt originally wanted him to be named "Turd Burglar."
• Proposed names for Kickin Hawk included Ka-Chickin and Chi-Kickin.
• Zombozo's escape in "Something Zombozo This Way Comes" was to have him land on Anur Transyl, thus possibly giving him some sort of role in the arc with Zs'Skayr in it, but they scrapped it.
• Mole-Stache was intended to appear in "No Honor Among Bros", using his moustache as a weapon. The scene was cut for time.
• In "Universe Vs. Tennyson", a scene of Ben using Chamalien to spy on Chadzmuth was considered at one point, but ultimately dropped when the story was changed.
• Derrick Wyatt originally planned to have the Rooters arc begin with Aggregor seeking out Kevin, revealing that he was an experiment by the Rooters to duplicate Kevin's powers.
• Verdona was planned to appear at one point. A new character model was even created, but ultimately, her appearance was dropped due to not being sent out in time.
• Ultimate Wildmutt was considered as one of Albedo's roster. Concept art was drawn, but nothing more came from it.
• Ultimate Cannonbolt was also considered for season 4, but he was cut. Considering the intense redesigns the other ultimate forms that were included had, it could have been cool.
• Even more fusion aliens were thought up for Ben 10,000, such as XLRG (XLR8 + NRG) and Gravadactyl (Gravattack + Astrodactyl). Concept art was made for both XLRG and Gravadactyl, but other fusions were never anything more then a "name on a board," according to Derrick Wyatt.
• Ben 23's version of Swampfire, Mr. Mucky, was rumored to make an appearance, and concept art was even supposedly completed. But this did not come to be.
• George Washington was intended to be travelling with a man named Ezekiel Saturday, but time constraints nixed that plot point.
• The Friedkin University episodes were supposed to lead into a CNAsia spinoff about Gwen.
• There were a few implications that the 4 missing transformations (Spitter, Fasttrack, Jetray, and Chamalien) along with other concept aliens would have shown up eventually, but the show wasn't renewed, and even then, the creators weren't in a rush for them to appear.

  • If the four missing aliens had appeared, Fred Tatasciore would’ve voiced Spitter, while Dee Bradley Baker would’ve reprised the other three.

• According to Derrick J. Wyatt on his ask.fm, an All There in the Manual for the show akin to the Allspark Almanacs for Transformers: Animated was pitched, but wasn't greenlit.
• A version of the Negative 10 would have appeared if the series had gotten additional seasons, consisting of 10 evil aliens from the same species as the Omnitrix's roster instead of being a team of older rouges gathered by an older villain. Ironically enough, the show already had several dark versions of Ben's aliens (Albedo is evil Grey Matter, Malware is evil Upgrade, Maltruant is evil Clockwork, Subdora is evil Chamalien, Liam is evil Kickin Hawk, Dr. Psychobos is evil Brainstorm, Lord Transyl is evil Whampire, etc.).
• One would wonder what Omniverse would've been had Dwayne McDuffie lived, considering that story treatments of the first two episodes were the last written by him prior to his death. It's very likely that the dangling plot details (the arcs centering around Elena, Charmcaster, and King Viktor being the most noteworthy) would've been resolved.
• Derrick J Wyatt has mentioned wanting to add Rocks and Squidstrictor, original aliens made up for the stage play Power of the Omnitrix, to the show before Executive Meddling demanded Whampire be the final alien introduced (at least outside of Ben 10k’s fusions which technically don’t count as new aliens).

Ben 10 (2016)

• It's implied that the shake ups of the Warner Brothers reorganizing affected several of the later output of the franchise, preventing them from telling some of the stories they wanted to in the series (most notably the exact make up of the Antitrix aliens and Bashmouth's species).
• Reportedly, the reboot was originally going to have a more animesque art direction akin to the original series, but was rejected in favor of the more toony art style featured in the final product.

Other projects

• As mentioned in the Ultimate Alien and Omniverse folders above, there were plans for a Gwen/Charmcaster spinoff.
• There were plans for another live-action film back in 2011, but this time being a theatrical film with Joel Silver producing it, which never materialised and another live-action attempt wouldn't happen until 2019, when Warner Bros. confirmed a live-action TV series was in the works.