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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.	”
– Professor Paradox to No Watch Ben.[1]

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	In their ship Contumelia arrive to a blank void and use Annihilarrgh to create the universe.[6] The timeline at the beginning started to branch into many timelines and shift creating its own timestream.[2][1]
Prior to 231AD	Millions of years prior to Omniverse A meteor crashes on Galvan Prime. The Omnivoracious species becomes extinct.[7] Before 231AD Azmuth and Zennith are born. Azmuth creates Primus and later begins creation on Ascalon. Zennith leaves Azmuth, he doesn't know until he found her gone when he finishes creating Ascalon.[8]
231AD-1400	231 Sir George is born.[9][8] Before 1131 The destruction of the Incursia takes place.[10][8] 1131 Sir George acquires Ascalon from Azmuth,[8] and then uses it to put an end to Dagon's reign by cutting out his heart and seals him away.[11] After 1131 Azmuth starts creating the Unitrix and the prototype Omnitrix. Zs'Skayr gets trapped in the Omnitrix while Myaxx samples a Flourana.[pop-up 1][12] 1000 years prior to the Ultimate Alien Middle Ages The Forever Knights are founded by Sir George.[Bandai 1][8] The Forever Knights kidnap an alien mapmaker.[13]
16th Century	1500s The very first version of the Galactic Enforcers build Incarcecon.[pop-up 2][14]
17th Century	1638 Bellwood is founded by a group of Sámi people.[15][16]
18th Century	1700s The Plumbiers are founded by Founding Fathers of the U.S.A.[pop-up 3][17] 1773 Maltruant arrives seeking help to repair his ship. A young Chimera Sui Generis, Vilgax, helps him in exchange for a Chronosapien Time Bomb. Ben and Rook arrive, who are once again time jumping and fights off Maltruant and Vilgax with the help of George Washington. Seeing the Omnitrix in action it inspires Vilgax's hunt for the Omnitrix.[6] Ben inexplicably suggests to George Washington that the Plumbiers start calling themselves Plumbers.[6]
19th Century	1800s The Plumbers would fight mostly paranormal and dimensional trouble.[note 2]
20th Century	1920s The Forever Knights first arrive in the United States.[pop-up 5][17] 1928 Holiday Village is founded by Thomas Jingles.[18] 60 years prior to the Original Series Summer Max Tennyson is born.[19] Before Moonstruck Blukic and Driba ended up on Earth after mistakenly launching Luhley's spacecraft with a Galvanian Skeuomorph.[20][DJW 2] 1952 Paradox's time machine fails, sending him out of time for 100,000 years.[21] 1960s Subdora comes to Earth and goes on a crime spree before being discovered by Maltruant.[DJW 3] 1962 Max meets Verdona along with the Synthroid.[22] Max is discharged from the Air Force in order to be an astronaut.[23] Labrid invites Max to join the Plumbers.[24][22] 1962-1970s Max becomes a Plumber. Max starts dating Xylene.[pop-up 6][25] Xylene goes to space to investigate the Omnitrix.[26] 1970s Max faces Vilgax several times.[pop-up 7][17] Max and Phil confront Vilgax, supposedly destroying him. This leads to the dissipation of the Plumbers and the end of alien activity on Earth.[27]
20th and 21st Century	Some point prior to the Original Series Sir Driscoll betrays the Plumbers, using alien tech for his own gain and joins the Forever Knights.[24][28] Ken Tennyson is born. 11 years prior to the Original Series Kevin Levin is born. 10 years prior to the Original Series December Ben Tennyson and Gwen Tennyson are born on the same day.[29][30][31][32] Some time prior to the Original Series Spellbinder dies trying to protect Charmcaster and Hex.[33]
21st Century	5 years prior to the Original Series Dr. Animo loses the Verities Award to Dr. Kelly and then goes on to spend five years perfecting his research.[pop-up 8][pop-up 9][34] Thalassia is destroyed. Sheelane fled from her destroyed home planet and come to Earth. Sheelane is saved by Baumann who, with Max's help, carried Sheelane's ship to an underground lake connected to a mine beneath Bellwood.[35] Shortly prior the Original Series Because of his parents who constantly mistreating him, Kevin runs away from home.[DJW 4][DJW 5]
During Ben 10	6 years ago Vilgax fights off Xylene's ship for the Omnitrix. Professor Paradox and No Watch Ben disable the shields on Chimeran Hammer (via time travel).[3] Vilgax's body is fatally damaged in battle. The ship is destroyed and the Omnitrix falls to Earth. Max, Ben, and Gwen begin their road trip around the country, starting with a campout. No Watch Ben redirects the Omnitrix capsule to reach Ben. Ben wanders off into the forest, the Omnitrix lands near him and locks onto his wrist. Vilgax sends drones for the watch, but they are easily destroyed by Ben. Sometime after And Then There Were 10 Azmuth begins working on the new Omnitrix.[10][36] Kevin absorbs DNA from the Omnitrix. During Secrets Vilgax's body is finally repaired, gaining new enhancements. Vilgax goes to Earth to retrieve the Omnitrix himself. Max reveals his identity as a Plumber to his grandkids, and his history with Vilgax. One week before The Big Tick Arburia is destroyed by the Great One. Kevin impersonates Ben, by turning into all of his aliens and becomes Kevin 11. Zs'Skayr takes over Ghostfreak escapes the Omnitrix. During Back With a Vengeance Kevin and Vilgax team up to get revenge on Ben. Ben accidentally unlocks the Master Control and then locks it as he surrenders the Omnitrix in a exchange for Gwen. Ben regains the Omnitrix after Gwen tricked Kevin and Vilgax with a bomb. Kevin and Vilgax get trapped in the Null Void. Ben meets Ben 10,000. Team Tennyson goes to Kennedy Space Center. The team encounters Werewolf and Mummy again, and meets Dr. Viktor. Zs'Skayr is revived by Dr. Viktor. Dr. Viktor touches the Omnitrix and Frankenstrike is unlocked.[note 3] Zs'Skayr is defeated once again. Ben temporarily regains Ghostfreak. During Ben 10 vs. Negative 10 Ben and Gwen meet Cooper. The Forever King assembles a team with Ben's worst enemies. Team Tennyson and Cooper go to Mt. Rushmore. The Forever King gets the Sub-Energy and becomes more powerful than ever. The Forever King is defeated and Mt. Rushmore is destroyed. Vilgax escapes from the Null Void by sheer luck, happening to stumble upon a portal being opened on another planet.[pop-up 11][14] During Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix. The Omnitrix's Self Destruct gets activated during a battle with Dr. Animo. Ben meets Azmuth. Azmuth repairs the Omnitrix and stops the self destruct. Vilgax is thrown into space by Way Big.
Between Original Series and Alien Force	6 years ago Ben and Gwen go home following their summer vacation. The events of Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens take place. After Way Big's fight against Evil Way Big destroyed a large section of Bellwood, alien labor was secretly brought in to rebuild the city faster than humans could do alone. During these constructions, the workers built a very small camp underneath Bellwood. The camp grew over the years until it was the size of the city itself, turning in Undertown.[DJW 6][DJW 7] Kevin temporarily rid of his mutation.[note 4] Kevin is held arrested in the Null Void Incarcecon for the rest of his adolecense. Kevin meets Kwarrel. Kwarrel teaches Kevin to permanently rid of his mutation and absorb matter. Kwarrel dies.[38] The Rustbucket was destroyed and replaced by the Rustbucket II.[39][40][note 5] 5 years ago Ben unlocks Feedback and Arctiguana.[DJW 8] Ben becomes addicted to using Feedback. Team Tennyson goes to Galvan Prime due to a malfunction in the Omnitrix. Malware invades Galvan Prime. Albedo modifies the Helix and Malware gets mutated.[41] Malware gets the Omnitrix blueprint required for Dr. Psychobos to complete the Nemetrix.[42][43] Dr. Psychobos and Malware hire Khyber to help in the creation of the Nemetrix.[44] Malware invades the Mt. Rushmore Plumber base. Malware get blown up and absorbs the Tachyon Cannon, upgrading even further.[45] Phil is rescued from the Null Void and he becomes the first person to use the Nemetrix.[44][46] Azmuth comes to Earth and warns Ben about overusing Feedback. Malware removes Feedback and half of Ben's DNA from the Omnitrix.[47][MY 1] Ben gets depressed after losing Feedback to Malware.[48] Sometime after Secret of the Omnitrix Vilgax returns and captures Ben.[49] Sometime before The Rooters of All Evil flashback The events of From Hedorium to Eternity takes place. Kevin joins the Rooters and his powers are used to fuse aliens with humans.[50] The Amalgam Kids prepare themselves to destroy Ben. Kevin absorbs the Omnitrix and momenterally is mutated once again. Kevin and the other Amalgam Kids fails to destroy "the coming storm" and get their memories replaced by Servantis.[51] Sometime after the Evil's Encore flashback Dr. Animo ends up purposely imprisoned in the Null Void to find new species of animals, but he can't get out[DM 6] and takes on the pseudonym "D'Void".[52] 2 to 4 years ago Ben removes the Omnitrix.[53] The events of The Secret Saturdays take place. 3 years prior to the Alien Swarm September Victor Validus is interrogated by Max Tennyson and soon after acquires "whereabouts unknown" status.[54]
During Alien Force	1 year ago Max disappears and tries to investigate the Highbreed Invasion. Ben puts the Omnitrix back on. Ben and Gwen encounter Kevin for the first time in 4 years. The Omnitrix recalibrates and Ben gets a new playlist of aliens, losing his old ones. Labrid dies and the trio is formed. Ben and Julie Yamamoto begin dating. Ken is kidnapped by the DNAliens and is almost fused with a Xenocite. Ben finds out that the Omnitrix can converse with him and repair genetic damage. The team finds Max, and he is transported to the Null Void. Ben uses Alien X for the first time and decides to never use him again. Ben and Reinrassig III gets stuck in Turrawüste. Reinrassig loses his arm but is reattached by Swampfire. Sometime prior to Good Copy, Bad Copy Albedo turns against Azmuth and builds an inferior replica of the Omnitrix. Albedo becomes a clone of Ben. Ben meets Albedo. Azmuth comes to Earth and detaches Albedo's Omnitrix core, sending him to a prison. Ben's parents find out about his second life as a hero and Max's career as a Plumber. Ben goes to the Null Void. Ben fights Dr. Animo for the first time in 4 years. Ben finds Max. Ben repairs the Highbreed DNA and stops the Highbreed Invasion, saving the universe. Ben becomes very egocentric and childish. Present The events of Ben 10: Alien Swarm take place. Vilgax returns and challanges Ben. The Omnitrix is hacked and Kevin gets mutated once again. Ben fights VIlgax for the first time in 5 years. Diamondhead fuses with Chromastone. Vilgax is defeated and banished from Earth. Bunker Highbreed awakes on Earth and activates the Failsafe. Zs'Skayr is freed and rules Vilgax's homeworld. Vilgax asks Alien Force to help him to defeat Zs'Skayr. Ben temporarily regains Ghostfreak. Vilgax comes to Primus. Azmuth orders the Omnitrix to go to Primus. Alien Force goes to Primus and the Omnitrix finds Azmuth. Vilgax gets the Omnitrix from Azmuth and he temporarily wields it. During The Secret of Chromastone Tetrax learns about Sugilite and the prophecy of Petropia. Tetrax comes to Earth and removes Sugilite from Diamondhead, shattering his body in the process. Sugilite rebuilds Petropia with the back up crystal. Diamondhead revives the Petrosapiens with the back up crystal. Albedo and Vilgax team up to get revenge on Ben. Albedo steals the Ultimatrix and modifies it. Ben surrenders the Omnitrix to Vilgax. The Omnitrix is destroyed and Ben takes the Ultimatrix from Albedo.
During Ultimate Alien	Present Aggregor kidnaps Bivalvan, Andreas, P'Andor, Ra'ad, and Galapagus. The kidnapped aliens crashland on Earth and go their separate ways. Ben's secret identity is leaked online by Jimmy Jones. Aggregor absorbs the five and begins his plan to gather the Map of Infinity. Aggregor gathers the Map of Infinity and heads to the Forge of Creation. Ben's brings his younger self to The Forge of Creation on accident. 16 year old Ben, 10 year old Ben, Gwen and Kevin defeat Ultimate Aggregor. Kevin gets mutated. Ben tries to kill Kevin as Ultimate Echo Echo before being stopped by Gwen. The Unitrix lands on Earth. Sometime after Ben 10,000 Returns. The events of Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United take place. Sir George regains the Sword Of Ascalon to slay the Dagon. Dagon turns all humans into Esoterica. Vilgax gains the power of the Dagon. Ben obtains Ascalon and turns all humans back to normal. Ben gets the new Omnitrix.
Between Ultimate Alien and Omniverse	Present Azmuth destroys the Ultimatrix.[DJW 9] Ben accidentally breaks up with Julie.[55] After the defeat of Ultimate Vilgax, several aliens came to live in Undertown because Earth became more grateful to them.[MW 1] Psyphon begins to run his own operations, a sort of extortion scheme in foreign markets in Bellwood and Undertown, threatening to blow them up with bombs and accepting only Taydenite as payment.
During Omniverse	Present Max assigns Rook Blonko to be Ben's new partner. Gwen and Kevin leave for college. Khyber begins sending Zed with the Nemetrix to hunt down Ben Ben and Rook meet for the first time. The derelict Contumelia Ship appears in orbit around Earth. The Annihilarrgh is activated and the Universe is destroyed. Ben creates a near exact replica of the former universe as Alien X. Ben encounters and fights Malware for the first time in 5 years. The Conductoid DNA is restored into the Omnitrix and Ben reunlocks Feedback to defeat Malware. Peptos XI is destroyed. Ben goes to Ben 23's dimension and meets his Azmuth, Tetrax and SevenSeven. Vilgax escapes from Plumber custody and begins time travelling to gather Bens from all over the Multiverse. Eon switches Ben's mind with his younger self. 11 year old Ben and 16 year old Ben defeat Eon, but their memories of this event are erased. Ben unlocks Toepick and confiscates the Dwarf Star. Ben gets temporally exiled from Earth by the Incurseans, but returns under Azmuth's help. Albedo recreates the Ultimatrix. Albedo gets transformed into an 11 year old version of Ben by Azmuth. Zs'Skayr escapes Legerdomain. Swampfire blossoms into a new form. Zs'Skayr revives Lord Transyl and gets trapped by Atomix. Ben unlocks Gutrot and Whampire. Vilgax brings the Alternate Bens to the No Watch Timeline. Ben Prime is recruted to protect No Watch Ben from the other Bens. The Rooters discover that Ben recreated the universe with Alien X and try to stop him again. Kevin remembers the truth of his past with the Rooters, and tells the other Amalgam Kids the truth too. Ben is trialed by the Celestialsapiens for recreating the Universe. Kevin and the Amalgam Kids turn against Ben. Kevin gets mutated (again) and destroys Servantis' Loyalty Neuro-Matrix. Maltruant rebuilds himself. Skurd sticks himself onto Ben's Omnitrix. Eon gives Maltruant two Time Beasts. Maltruant enacts his plan of going to the beginning of the universe and creating one in his image with his own Annihilarrgh, with him as the supreme ruler. The events of The End of an Era and A New Dawn take place.

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

• Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix
• Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens

The Secret Saturdays

• All episodes

Alien Force

• All episodes

Movies

• Ben 10: Alien Swarm

Ultimate Alien

• All episodes

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]}
• 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

References

Crew Statements

Dwayne McDuffie

Derrick J. Wyatt

Matt Youngberg

Duncan Rouleau

Charlotte McDuffie

Matt Wayne

Man of Action

Pop-Up Trivia

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