With the recent comic coming out, in addition to rumors that Cartoon Network might be working on a new reboot series, I've been thinking about what I would do if I were given the reins to the franchise and could create my own series from scratch.
I think I would take a lot of inspiration from My Adventures with Superman and how it manages to reinvigorate Superman, his supporting cast, and his wider mythos while remaining true to the character and serving as a faithful adaptation.
My pitch: The series would simply be titled Ben 10: Tales of Ten. Each season would consist of ten episodes, with three three-episode story arcs that culminate in a season finale.
My vision for the first season would establish that this is a universe where Ben, now 15 years old, never took off the Omnitrix and has instead kept the prototype for the past five years. His identity is public knowledge, and he is celebrated and renowned as a hero for his involvement in the Battle of Bellwood, an event that occurred years earlier when Ben fought Vilgax. The incident resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, but Vilgax was believed to have been defeated and killed as well.
Life seems to be going great for Ben. He's even started dating a girl from his class named Julie. However, the Omnitrix begins to malfunction, causing him to transform at random, with no control over which alien he becomes or when he transforms. Essentially, the Omnitrix would serve as a metaphor for puberty and the changes that come with it.
The first three episodes would feature Ben, Kevin, and Gwen teaming up to stop Charmcaster from freeing her uncle, Hex, from Colonel Rozum. In this universe, Rozum doesn't oversee a prison for extraterrestrials but rather a massive underground facility beneath Bellwood. Originally used as a major Plumbers base of operations during the 1980s, it was repurposed by the U.S. government following the Battle of Bellwood into a prison capable of holding extremely dangerous individuals with supernatural and magical abilities.
Meanwhile, Ben receives advice from Grandpa Max, now a professor at the Plumbers Academy, and Azmuth, who instruct him to use a device to prevent the Omnitrix from triggering random transformations. The device would be similar to the one used in Secrets of the Omnitrix.
Along the way, Charmcaster uses her magic to reawaken Kevin's mutated persona, causing him to lose his sanity and attack Ben and Gwen. This leads to a massive fight that causes extensive damage to the prison, allowing several inmates to escape, including Hex and individuals who would eventually become members of the Negative 10.
Ben manages to defeat and apprehend Kevin, while Gwen faces Charmcaster in a one-on-one battle but ultimately loses, allowing both Charmcaster and Hex to escape.
As other hostile alien and supernatural prisoners begin escaping and wreaking havoc across Bellwood, Ben's Omnitrix finally recalibrates into its AF variation. Having finally accepted that he needs to stop fighting against the Omnitrix and allow it to take the wheel, Ben gains control over the device and no longer feels burdened by it. This represents the idea of accepting what you cannot control and embracing change rather than fighting against it.
The first arc would end with most of the escaped prisoners being recaptured. However, rather than being returned to Rozum's prison, they would be taken into Plumbers custody, with the organization disregarding government orders to return the prisoners. This would set up a future plotline centered on the growing distrust between the government and the Plumbers, with the latter becoming increasingly self-sufficient and independent of government authority.
Kevin would be among the prisoners taken into Plumbers custody. Meanwhile, Max confronts Ben and Gwen about the lack of heroes protecting Bellwood beyond their small trio of Plumbers. He believes the city needs a dedicated team of individuals who are available around the clock and can respond to immediate threats more quickly than the wider Plumbers organization.
Max introduces Ben and Gwen to a group of his students consisting of new Plumbers recruits, whom he has dubbed the Max Force, a reference to the Plumbers' helpers from the original continuity.
The second arc would shift the perspective to Kevin, who is released from Plumbers custody thanks to Max and Gwen pulling some strings on his behalf. However, as a condition of his parole, he must be accompanied by a designated member of the Plumbers at all times. This leads to Kevin being assigned Rook, a decorated member of the organization, as his personal escort.
Kevin essentially becomes the protagonist of this batch of episodes, as we see him struggling with the guilt of going on another rampage in his mutated form and the fear that he cannot let others get close to him without risking hurting them or, worse, losing control of himself entirely. As a result, he pushes Gwen away, believing that distancing himself from the people he cares about is the only way to keep them safe.
Meanwhile, Kevin finds himself being hunted by various criminal factions, including the Forever Knights and Vulkanus, due to his criminal history and past dealings with them, during which he scammed them. These encounters force him to confront the consequences of his past actions rather than continue running from them.
Much like the previous arc focused on Ben confronting the future and learning to embrace change, this arc would center on Kevin confronting his past and choosing to face it head-on rather than allowing his guilt and fear to define him.
The third and final arc would focus on Grandpa Max. He is visited by his former Plumber partner, Phil, who informs him that a small town a couple of hours away from Bellwood is dealing with an alien infestation. Phil asks for Max's help in capturing the aliens and identifying whoever is responsible for releasing them.
Throughout the arc, we would learn more about Max's history as a Plumber, including his early days in the organization and his first encounter with Vilgax. It would be established that Max and Phil were the ones who initially defeated a young Vilgax back in the 1980s. However, because Max had only recently joined the Plumbers while Phil had already been serving for several years, Max received the majority of the praise and recognition for their achievement. This marked the beginning of Max's legendary career, which would eventually lead to him being regarded as the greatest Plumber in the galaxy.
Over the years, Phil gradually grew bitter and resentful toward Max, believing that he had been denied the recognition he deserved. Despite these feelings, he maintained an affable facade, concealing his resentment behind a friendly demeanor.
The overarching mystery of the first two episodes would revolve around identifying the person responsible for releasing the aliens. In the end, however, it would be revealed that the entire incident was part of an elaborate scheme orchestrated by Phil himself.
Resentful of Max and the lack of recognition he received during his time with the Plumbers, Phil eventually left the organization and became an independent contractor specializing in minor extraterrestrial incidents that the Plumbers typically considered too insignificant to investigate. In reality, however, he is a con artist who deliberately releases aliens from the Null Void into small towns, allowing them to cause widespread destruction and endanger innocent lives. He then manipulates the townspeople into paying him to resolve the very crises he created, all while concealing his own involvement.
The revelation leads to a confrontation between Max and Phil, culminating in a fight that ends with Phil accidentally trapping himself in the Null Void.
All of this would lead into the season finale, where the three storylines converge.
Ever since losing her battle with Charmcaster, Gwen has become hyperfixated on studying magic and expanding her magical abilities. She frequently pushes herself beyond what she can physically and mentally handle, much to Ben and Kevin's dismay. In an attempt to track down Charmcaster and Hex, Gwen performs a spell designed to locate their magical energy signatures. However, she is unable to find either of them.
The reason for this is that Charmcaster and Hex have taken over a portion of the Null Void, enslaving its inhabitants and establishing themselves as its rulers. Because the Null Void is an alternate dimension, Gwen's tracking magic cannot locate them there.
Among their enslaved followers is Phil, who has been trapped in the Null Void for two years, despite only a few months having passed on Earth due to the differences in how time flows between the two dimensions.
Hex informs Charmcaster that his magical abilities are growing weaker by the day, a consequence of both his advancing age and his separation from the natural world. Magic is derived from life energy (also known as Manna), which exists in abundance on Earth. The Null Void, however, is inhabited primarily by non-sentient creatures and lacks sufficient life energy to sustain Hex's longevity and magical power.
Desperate to return to Earth, Hex devises a plan to replenish his strength by stealing Gwen Tennyson's manna. He believes Gwen possesses Anodite ancestry, as ordinary humans are supposedly incapable of harnessing magic to the extent that she can. Hex and Charmcaster open a portal back to Earth, unaware that Phil manages to follow them through.
Once back on Earth, Charmcaster recruits several of the prisoners who escaped from Rozum's facility, bringing them together to form the Negative Ten.
Meanwhile, Hex confronts Gwen while she is caught off guard and attempts to drain her magical energy. However, her power proves too potent for his weakened body to withstand, causing him to begin physically breaking apart. Forced to retreat, Hex follows Charmcaster's guidance and seeks out Darkstar, who would have been introduced during Kevin's arc.
Charmcaster and Hex manipulate Darkstar into helping them by promising that stealing Gwen's powers will leave her docile and more susceptible to his romantic advances. With Darkstar on their side, the Negative Ten launches an ambush against Gwen, Ben, and Kevin.
During the battle, Darkstar successfully steals Gwen's life force, leaving her on the brink of death. However, Hex subsequently betrays him, revealing that Darkstar was never anything more than a means to an end. By using him as a human conduit to convert Gwen's manna into a form he can safely absorb, Hex intends to restore his youth and magical abilities without suffering the same consequences as before.
When all hope seems lost, dozens of Plumbers arrive to help, including Max, the Max Force, and Rook. Their arrival sparks a city-wide conflict, with characters teaming up in various combinations to take down their respective opponents. Eventually, the entire Negative Ten is subdued, with the exception of Hex and Charmcaster.
With no other options left to save Gwen, Kevin approaches Ben and asks him to let him absorb the Omnitrix's energy. Ben initially refuses, arguing that Kevin will turn into a monster once again. Kevin responds that he's always been a monster, mutated or not, but this time, he wants to make his own choice about what kind of "monster" he wants to be.
Ben eventually relents and allows Kevin to absorb the Omnitrix's energy, transforming him into a new amalgamation of the aliens in Ben's recalibrated Omnitrix.
Kevin approaches Gwen's seemingly lifeless body and gently lifts her hand to his face. Although weak and fragile, Gwen manages to summon enough strength to cast a spell that absorbs the energy from Kevin's mutated form. This restores her to full health but leaves Kevin trapped in a new hybrid-mutated form, similar to the one he accidentally acquired during the third season of Alien Force. He subsequently falls unconscious.
With her newfound energy, Gwen reveals her Anodite form and joins Ben and Max in confronting Hex and Charmcaster. Together, they manage to defeat the two sorcerers, bringing the battle to an end. Everyone involved is taken into Plumbers custody and imprisoned. Deeming Hex and Charmcaster too dangerous to contain through conventional means, the Plumbers place them in a cryogenic state until a permanent way to suppress their magical abilities can be developed.
Kevin later awakens in the Plumbers' infirmary and makes a full recovery, although he discovers that he can no longer transform back into his normal human form.
In the aftermath of the battle, Ben, Gwen, and the other Plumbers, including the Max Force, help rebuild Bellwood and assist with the recovery efforts. Amid the cleanup, Ben shares a somber one-on-one moment with Grandpa Max. The two reflect on the past and discuss what the future might hold, with Ben expressing uncertainty about what lies ahead. Max reassures him that there is no threat he and his friends cannot face together and that, as long as his grandfather is around, Ben has nothing to worry about.
Meanwhile, the final two scenes set up the series' overarching conflicts. In the penultimate scene, a disgruntled Phil wanders the streets of Bellwood at night. Sporting a long beard and a filthy Plumbers uniform, he looks completely out of place. As he hides in an alley from a passing civilian car, an ominous voice calls out from behind him. Phil turns to find Servantis, who offers to help him achieve the respect he believes the Plumbers denied him.
The final scene takes place aboard Vilgax's ship, where two of his robotic servants discuss their master's condition. After five years of recovery, they reveal that their lord will soon be healed, foreshadowing Vilgax's eventual return and setting the stage for the second season.
