For people who have made action-oriented western animation an important part of their lives, 2005 is an important year. It started very well Avatar: The Last Airbender, which helped make people who weren’t adapted into anime and serialized a story that felt ripe for anyone in the target audience back in the day. At the end of that same year, the demographics found ben 10, an equally important show A photo but in its own way.
The first project of the animation studio Man of Action and first released on December 27, 2005, the Cartoon Network series follows a 10-year-old boy named Ben Tennyson who discovers a mysterious watch called the Omnitrix, which allows him to become one of 10 aliens for 10 minutes at a time. As Ben, his cousin Gwen, and their Grandpa Max spend their summer vacation traveling the country, each episode has Ben using a number of aliens to fight villains like monster clowns, secret orders, and other aliens who want to take over the Omnitrix.
On the face of it, it’s a very simple idea for a children’s show, but execution-wise, it was actually perfection. Man of Action’s founding team was made up of American comic book writers and artists such as Joe Casey and Duncan Rouleau, whose collective credits include Marvel, DC, and Image Comics. Once you know that lineage, it’s just a matter of looking at what influences run through the show, like Kirby Krackle or Kevin Levin being a mashup of Super-Skrull and Metamorpho. What made it work was the honest playing that was all over the place, whether it was that catchy theme song or Ben’s aliens themselves. The way he hits that beat and turns, who wouldn’t want to be something called an XLR8 or Four Arms?
So that’s not surprising Ben 10 became a huge hit on Cartoon Network with a four-season run, three movies (one of which was live-action), and an accompanying video game. It is also not surprising that it went on to become a franchise that continued to include many films and games, toys, and a third consecutive series in. Alien Force, Ultimate Alien—who turned 15 earlier this year—and The Omniverse. For Cartoon Network, this was it A photo: something that was aimed at children but also had a good sense of aging with its audience. As Ben, Gwen, and Kevin were made teenagers, viewers got their own Spider-Man, even before Ben’s young character Yuri Lowenthal became Spider-Man.
In fact, they had something better here: Ben it was the original material and therefore its sources of material. So unlike the animated adventures of Spider-Man, Batman, or other big-name superheroes happening at the time, you can watch any. Ben show up and be amazed week after week without having a nagging thought in the back of your mind about things that are being postponed or disrupted in other parts of the universe. A lot went on from there Ben 10 Classic up to omniverse, with continuity being heavily maintained, and it’s all conversation as the shows hit on about every superhero comic trope or storytelling device when it’s all said and done. (A lot of that is due to comic book writer Dwayne McDuffie, who developed and did a lot of it Alien Force again Ultimate Alien until his death in 2011.)
That Ben 10 continued success had the added effect of bringing action-oriented shows to Cartoon Network, whose output at the time included short-lived originals such as Megas XLR or Juniper Lee and the occasional DC series. But because Ben, we found Generator Rex again Secret Saturdays. The first was the second Man of Action animated series, set in its own unique setting and based on an old comic by Casey, Rouleau, and Aaron Sowd. While Rex again Ben he fell into the middle Heroes United special, the first one did not have the same staying power as its predecessors. The same can be said about it Secret Saturday, which started in the same year Alien Force and his characters finally appeared The Omniverse.
Once again Rex or On Saturdays it was bad, and they might be worth watching now, but their individual vibes didn’t hit like this Ben it had been providing for half a decade at that time. When did they come? Ben he did. In 2005, superhero fever was sweeping the world, and in 2008, the genre was trying to become a dominant culture. The children have been relieved of this because Ben; Alien Force on the days indicated after the premiere ended, which was also before the first weeks The Man of Steel and months before The Dark Knight.
It was (and probably still is) a very confident move on Cartoon Network’s part that led to the multimedia franchise becoming part of its product and franchise. Ben 10 to endure for so long. After the spin-off reboot wrapped back in 2021 for its respectable run—four seasons, a movie, two shows, and specials that allowed for crossovers with both. Generator Rex and his old self—the Man of Action has not completely let go of his original nature. The studio apparently has a joke in the works and is likely to continue trying to release another live-action film after the first attempt failed, not to mention that Rouleau has hinted that it may commission an adult-oriented sequel. Samurai Jack or Fionna and Cake.
Such an idea feels antithetical to what made the original shows so successful, but what would happen Ben 10 what if it didn’t go out on a limb and see if that gambit works?
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