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| “ | Think of time and space as this tree. Down here is when you were 10 years old. Right here is now. Up here is when you'll be 30 years old. The trunk is the main timeline. | ” |
The Prime Timeline[DJW 1][2][3] (also known as the Main Timeline[1] or Original Timeline[4]) is where all of the canon episodes and movies of Ben 10, Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, and Ben 10: Omniverse take place. The Secret Saturdays also takes place in this timeline.[5]
This is the timeline where nearly the entire Classic Continuity takes place. Ben 10: Race Against Time didn't directly happen in this timeline,[note 1] and Gwen 10 and Goodbye and Good Riddance are "what if" episodes.
Events
| The Beginning |
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| Prior to 231AD |
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| 231AD-1400 |
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| 16th Century |
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| 17th Century | |
| 18th Century |
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| 19th Century |
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| 20th Century |
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| 20th and 21st Century |
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| 21st Century |
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| During Ben 10 |
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| Between Original Series and Alien Force |
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| During Alien Force |
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| During Ultimate Alien |
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| Between Ultimate Alien and Omniverse |
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| During Omniverse |
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Time Travel
Some instances of time travel in the franchise involve causing changes to the Prime timeline, such as in Time Heals, while others are consistent with the timeline's history (thus causing time loops), as seen in the Time War. Some examples of history changes not being reversed are in Merry Christmas, where after the Holiday Village curse is broken, the events caused by the curse are largely reversed as if they never happened, and in the episode Paradox, where Professor Paradox, Ben, Gwen, and Kevin go back to the year 1952 and stop Hugo from falling into the Chronolauger, thus making so that the Trans-Dimensional Creature never existed.
Inhabitants
- See Classic Characters
- Professor Paradox (formerly)
- Dr. Psychobos (formerly)
Notable Visitors
- Dagon
- Lucubra
- Professor Paradox
- Ben Tennyson (No Watch Timeline)
- Gwendolyn Tennyson (Original Future Timeline)
- Eon
- Computron
- Computron's Minions
- Eon's Minions (Ultimate Alien)
- Ben 10,000 (Ultimate Alien Future Timeline)
- Eon's Minions (Omniverse)
- Ben 10,000 (Original Future Timeline)
- Spanner (Original Future Timeline)
- Dr. Animo (Original Future Timeline)
- Gwen 10 (Gweniverse)
- Ben Tennyson (Dimension 23)
- Collectimus
- Azmuth (Dimension 23)
Appearances
Ben 10
- All episodes and shorts (except Gwen 10, Ken 10 and Goodbye and Good Riddance)
Movies
The Secret Saturdays
Alien Force
Movies
Ultimate Alien
Generator Rex
Season 3
- Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United (flashback)
Omniverse
- All episodes (except And Then There Were None, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Ben World: Part 2 and The End of an Era)
Trivia
- Several staff members gave their opinions on the canonicity of the movies in the Prime Timeline:
- Charlotte McDuffie believes that all films in the franchise are non-canon.[CM 1]
- Derrick J. Wyatt believed that Ben 10: Alien Swarm was not canon to the animated continuity of Ben 10,[DJW 10] but Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens was.[DJW 11]
- Matt Wayne thought Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens to be non-canon.[MW 2]
- However, several episodes of the series refer to events of Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix, Ben 10: Alien Swarm and Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens, thereby canonizing them.[BTP 2]
- The Secret Saturdays were always intended to be part of Classic Continuity.[JS 1]
- Generator Rex was also intended to take place in the same universe as Ben 10, but that did not come to pass due to both series having different toy licenses.[MoA 1][DR 1]
- This was taken to such a point in development that Cartoon Network considered Generator Rex a "spin-off" of Ben 10.[OB 1]
- Generator Rex would be the same as its final version, the only major change being the scope of the Nanite event, which would consist of small, sporadic outbreaks that Rex would investigate to discover the cause, with him acting as a "doctor without borders".[DR 1]
- Jay Stephens, the creator of The Secret Saturdays, has said that Cartoon Network planned for there to be a shared universe between all of their action cartoons at the time, they are: Ben 10, The Secret Saturdays, Generator Rex and Sym-Bionic Titan. The main reason this didn't happen was that Cartoon Network started focusing on live action productions at the time instead of animated shows, causing a financial loss that led to cost cuts and the cancellation of the idea.[JS 2]
- The intention has always been to create a larger shared universe of CN heroes with characters that make sense together, although Man of Action did not talk to network executives about it, unlike Jay Stephens. A few things like toy sales, how the shows were financed, low ratings, and poor communication between teams were the main obstacles to the idea being nixed.[DR 2][DR 3][DR 4]
- Despite all this, they didn't talk about the "continuities" of their series (like the MCU does), since they were each making their own shows.[JS 3]
- Duncan described the idea of a shared universe as having Ben as its central character, like Spider-Man, where all the other characters would be introduced as belonging to his world, with plans to have crossovers and mega-events and with the possibility of creating a superhero team like The Avengers.[DR 1]
- Even with the idea being essentially discarded,[JS 4] some things "rescued" the concept of a shared universe like T.G.I.S. and Ben Gen 10.[DR 5]
- Generator Rex was also intended to take place in the same universe as Ben 10, but that did not come to pass due to both series having different toy licenses.[MoA 1][DR 1]
- The current Ben 10 series always takes place "this year". The Original Series is perpetually six years ago to the current "now".[DM 7][DM 8][DM 9]
- Most characters end up not receiving birth dates for this reason.[DR 6]
Notes
- ↑ The events of Ben 10: Race Against Time were originally canon to the Classic Continuity.[DM 1] This was retconned in Ben 10,000 Returns, as the movie takes place in an alternate timeline.[BTP 1]
- ↑ It was originally stated that the Plumbers started fighting alien threats in the early 1800s following Eon's arrival to Earth.[pop-up 4][17] This is retconned in Ben 10,000 Returns as Eon didn't appear in the Prime Timeline until that episode.[BTP 1]
- ↑ Originally, Dr. Viktor was the DNA source for Frankenstrike.[pop-up 10][37] During Alien Force's run, the context behind this scenario has been changed to having the Omnitrix "sample" his DNA, thereby unlocking the transformation using DNA that already existed in its database.[DM 2][DM 3][DM 4][BTP 1]
- ↑ Kevin managed to revert from Kevin 11 once before becoming stuck as in the form again due to lack of experience.[DM 5] This explains why Kevin 11 was wearing jeans instead of cargo shorts in ...Nor Iron Bars a Cage.
- ↑ Originally, the Rustbucket II was used by Max because the original was destroyed by Eon in Race Against Time.[pop-up 12] This is retconned in Ben 10,000 Returns as the events of the movie are stated to take place in an alternate timeline. Because of this retcon, it is unknown what happened to the original Rustbucket.[BTP 1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 And Then There Were None
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Professor Paradox
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 And Then There Was Ben
- ↑ Ben 10,000 Returns
- ↑ T.G.I.S.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 A New Dawn
- ↑ Showdown: Part 1
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Solitary Alignment
- ↑ Sir George
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Azmuth
- ↑ A Knight to Remember
- ↑ Be Afraid of the Dark
- ↑ Be-Knighted
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix
- ↑ Natalie Alvarez
- ↑ Malefactor
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Ultimate Weapon
- ↑ Merry Christmas
- ↑ Ben 10,000 (Episode)
- ↑ Blukic and Driba Go to Area 51
- ↑ Paradox
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Moonstruck
- ↑ The Return
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Max
- ↑ And Then There Were 10
- ↑ The Visitor
- ↑ Truth
- ↑ Ben 10 vs. Negative 10: Part 2
- ↑ Rook Blonko
- ↑ The Ultimate Heist
- ↑ Max Tennyson
- ↑ Camp Fear
- ↑ Where the Magic Happens
- ↑ Divided We Stand
- ↑ The Ballad of Mr. Baumann
- ↑ The Ultimate Enemy: Part 2
- ↑ Be Afraid of the Dark
- ↑ ...Nor Iron Bars a Cage
- ↑ Ben Tennyson
- ↑ Kevin's Big Score
- ↑ Trouble Helix
- ↑ The More Things Change: Part 1
- ↑ Of Predators and Prey: Part 1
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Of Predators and Prey: Part 2
- ↑ Malefactor
- ↑ Max's Monster
- ↑ Showdown: Part 1
- ↑ Showdown: Part 2
- ↑ Bengeance is Mine
- ↑ The Rooters of All Evil
- ↑ Weapon XI: Part 2
- ↑ Voided
- ↑ Ben 10 Returns: Part 1
- ↑ Ben 10: Alien Swarm
- ↑ Rules of Engagement
Crew Statements
Dwayne McDuffie
- ↑ File:RAT Originally Canon.PNG
- ↑ File:Primus Hint.png
- ↑ File:Halloween Trio Sampled.PNG
- ↑ File:Omnitrix Bonded With Ben.png
- ↑ File:Kevin 11 Reverted More Than Once.PNG
- ↑ File:Animo Purposely Went To the Null Void.png
- ↑ File:Floating Timeline.png
- ↑ File:Ben 10 Timeline This Year.PNG
- ↑ File:OS 2004.PNG
Derrick J. Wyatt
- ↑ File:Unseen Universes.png
- ↑ File:51 Story Before Verdona.png
- ↑ File:Subdora Backstory.png
- ↑ File:Kevin's Dad.png
- ↑ File:Kevin and Devin Photo Fake.png
- ↑ File:DJW Undertown Origins 1.png
- ↑ File:DJW Undertown Origins 2.png
- ↑ File:OV Spitter Unlocked During Flashbacks.PNG
- ↑ File:Azmuth Destroyed The Ultimatrix.png
- ↑ File:Alien Swarm Non Canon.png
- ↑ File:DAA Canon As of OV.png
Matt Youngberg
Duncan Rouleau
Charlotte McDuffie
Matt Wayne
Man of Action
Pop-Up Trivia
- ↑ File:Zs'Skayr Possessed the Florauna Sample.png
- ↑ File:Galactic Enforcers Incarcecon.PNG
- ↑ File:Founding Fathers Plumbers.png
- ↑ File:Plumbers Fought Paranormal.png
- ↑ File:FK Many Orders.png
- ↑ File:Xylene's Ship in ATTWT.png
- ↑ File:Max vs Vilgax.png
- ↑ File:Divided We Stand Pop-up (13).png
- ↑ File:Divided We Stand Pop-up (14).png
- ↑ File:Viktor DNA Scanned.png
- ↑ File:Vilgax Null Void.PNG
- ↑ File:Rust Bucket Destroyed.png
Merchandise
Bandai
Other
Jay Stephens
Orange Band
Ben 10 Planet
| Dimensions/Timelines | |
|---|---|
| Current Main Timeline | Prime Timeline • Original Future Timeline • End of Time |
| Alternate Dimensions/Timelines | Argitrix Timeline • Dagon's Dimension • Dimension 12 • Dimension 23 • Generator Rex Dimension • Gweniverse • Legerdomain • Mad World • No Watch Timeline • Null Void • Nexus Realm • Race Against Time Timeline |
| Others | Timestream • Universe |
| Aborted Timelines | Paradox's Failure Timeline • Time Heals Timeline • Ultimate Alien Future Timeline |