- NOTE: For the reboot version of this character, click here.
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“ | You'll never beat me, because you're one of the good guys. And good guys never have the guts to finish guys like me! | „ |
~ Kevin 11 to Ben 10 from Framed. |
“ | Diss me all you want. I'm still 10 times better than you! I've got all your powers, plus my own! I'm Kevin 11! | „ |
~ Kevin 11 to Ben as Diamondhead and his most famous quote. |
“ | I've had it with you, Tennyson! Always beating me when we were kids! Everything always going your way! I get turned into a freak! You become a world-famous superhero! | „ |
~ Ultimate Kevin ranting to Ben during their last fight. |
Kevin Ethan Levin, also known as Kevin 11, is one of the two tritagonists (alongside Max Tennyson) of the Ben 10 franchise.
He is an Osmosian with the ability to absorb energy and use it as his powers. When he first met Ben Tennyson, Kevin was a selfish young man who caused trouble for the sake of it without regard for any lives other than his own. He even absorbed the power of the Omnitrix and became a chimeric mutant combining aspects of Ben's aliens as well as gaining all of their powers in the process.
In Alien Force, he redeems himself and becomes a hero before joining Ben to fight against extraterrestrial threats, such as the Highbreed and DNAliens. However, in Ultimate Alien, he becomes Ultimate Kevin after absorbing too much DNA from the Ultimatrix and becomes insane once again, but a lot more dangerous than he was before, so much that it leads to Ben breaking his no-kill rule, resulting in him being driven to lethality and causing him to almost kill Kevin after he crosses too many lines. In the end, Kevin becomes a hero once again after he is restored to normal and redeemed by Ben and the others, although some later episodes still have him do some shady things; in Omniverse, he becomes a villain again while under the influence of Proctor Servantis, though it was revealed that he was only pretending to work with him in order to protect Ben and his friends.
He was voiced by Michael Reisz in the original series, and while in his mutant form, he was voiced by Charlie Schlatter. In Alien Force, Ultimate Alien and Omniverse, he was voiced by Greg Cipes.
Biography[]
Ben 10[]
When Ben first meets him, Kevin lived alone and stole from people in order to get by. Ben saved him from bullies at an arcade and befriended him once he found out that Kevin, too, had special powers. Gwen tried to warn Ben that Kevin was trouble, But Ben ignored her and joined Kevin. The two caused trouble by stealing a sumo slammers video game and escaped from the police. Then, when Kevin tried to commit a crime out of spite by crashing a train and killing many people, Ben tried to stop him and persuade him to use his powers for good. Kevin grew resentful of Ben and later returned as an enemy. This is despite him being the one who tried to attack Ben even after the latter tried to reach out to him.
Kevin reappeared in several episodes. In one episode, Kevin absorbed the Omnitrix, granting him the power of shapeshifting into Ben's alien forms. Kevin tried to frame Ben's aliens for several crimes giving his aliens a bad name. But eventually Kevin mutated even further into a monster with all of Ben's alien forms wrapped into one hideous creature. He tries to kill Ben with his newfound powers after wrongfully blaming him before getting shot down by LT. Steel.
“ | Diss me all you want. I'm still 10 times better than you! I've got all your powers, plus my own! I'm Kevin 11! | „ |
~ Kevin 11 to Ben as Diamondhead and his most famous quote. |
But in one episode, Kevin and Ben had to team up with each other after they were kidnapped by a robot named Slix Vigma. They were forced to fight other as entertainment for others. Because they were connected together. After Slix was destroyed Ben manage to escape while Kevin was trapped on the ship with a new friend of Ben Technorg. He ended up defeating Technorg before escaping; deciding to resort to the unthinkable to get his revenge.
“ | Guess we have a lot in common. We both got a beef with a little snot rag named Ben Tennyson. And if you're as bad as they say you are, then you're just what I need to take him out for good. | „ |
~ Kevin 11 to Vilgax from Back With a Vengeance. |
Kevin also teamed up with Ben's nemesis Vilgax so he can defeat Ben for making a fool out of him and eventually managed to remove the Omnitrix with Vilgax's help thanks to him kidnaping Gwen. However, he betrayed him after his desire to kill Ben got to him. Since then Kevin has been trapped in the Null Void.
When Ben was in an illusion created by Enoch and the Forever Knights, a dream version of Kevin appeared as a hall monitor in Ben's school and attacked his family alongside Sixsix and orge forms of Cash and JT. Ben was able to defeat them by taking control of the dream.
Kevin is found by the Rooters, who did experiments with his Osmosian powers on Alan Albright, Helen Wheels, Manny Armstrong and Pierce Wheels, transforming them into the Amalgam Kids, making them do nasty things. After that, Kevin fled, only with Servantis controlling his memories, convincing him that he had "alien blood".
During the time that he was associated with the Rooters, Kevin first met Argit when he gave a caged Argit a leaf to eat. Kevin then says that he is going back to Earth and save it and intends to take down Ben.
Eventually on Earth, Kevin discovers Argit and threatens him to start running and he and the Amalgam Kids confronted Ben, Gwen, and Max and Kevin fired a blast at Ben. Ben manages to avoid the shot and transforms into Eye Guy. Eye Guy pins Kevin down, However, Kevin did this to get Ben to come closer and touches the Omnitrix causing Kevin to mutate again. Kevin, like Ben stated, starts to go insane again and even attacks his allies the Amalgam Kids. Kevin was eventually stopped by Argit who used his quills. Kevin and the Amalgam Kids were sent back to the Null Void but an enraged Servantis wiped out their memories and sent them away. Servantis then abandoned the plan to destroy Ben after Ben stopped wearing the Omnitrix.
In the Null Void, Kevin and Argit are moving some objects around and they both talk about how difficult it is to bring the objects together. Suddenly, a robot named Otto arrives and says that he is going to use the objects to help them get out of the Null Void. Otto tricks Kevin and Argit into turning on the device and escapes without them, leaving now-dismayed Kevin and Argit trapped in the Null Void.
At some point later, Kevin was brought out of the Null Void by Thaddeus J. Collins, who was being possessed by Zs'Skayr, and tied to the Null Void portal using Plumber technology. Collins asked Kevin to use his absorbing powers to mine Hedorium underground. Kevin was mining for Hedorium in a dark cave when he encounters Ben (who was accompanied by his cousins Gwen and Lucy Mann and his friends Cooper and Jonesy). After Cooper examines the technology as Kevin asks him to disconnect him from the portal, Ben disagrees with Kevin's request as he has done a lot of bad deeds to him. Kevin then tells Ben that the planet Earth would be in danger, Ben takes Lucy and Jonesy to find out about the problem as Gwen and Cooper deal with Kevin.
While Ben as Eye Guy, Lucy and Jonesy fight Grandpa Max holding a weapon, Kevin teases Cooper about being Gwen's boyfriend but both of them stated they were just friends. Kevin teases and thinks he is a better guy, leaving Gwen raged and walks away. As Eye Guy, Lucy, and Jonesy defeat Max, Cooper tried to pull the connection but failed. He then re-programmed Kevin's connection to let him pull the portal like a kite. Gwen blasts at the portal to separate the ionic bonds as they headed to join Ben, Lucy and Jonesy.
Ben laughs at Kevin because he is still connected to the portal, Kevin says it is better than being stuck to one spot. As the group walked further into the caves, they see a portal which things come out off. They head up only to see Thaddeus J.Collins, who is revealed to the children to be Zs'Skayr in disguise, and that the portal is for the Ectonurites to come in from their homeworld. Gwen is surprised that Kevin has been helping Zs'Skayr. The other Ectonurites are inside the bodies and controlling the grown ups. Due to the collective efforts of all the kids, everyone was saved when suddenly the Null Void portal starts to pull Kevin. Ben, Gwen, Lucy, Jonesy and Cooper help to pull Kevin in order to prevent him from being pulled into the Null Void portal, but they fail to do so when Ben loses his grip on Kevin's hand, leaving Kevin getting pulled back into the Null Void.
At some point later, Kevin and Argit managed to escape from the Null Void at the same time and two years after breaking away from Servantis, Kevin began work on his car, not satisfied with a simple standard model he began outfitting it with Alien Tech, and to this end traveled to Khoros to acquire a Tetramand engine block for it. Since the tech couldn't be given to an outsider, he wooed the then teenage Looma Red Wind and successfully defeated her in combat earning the right to marry her in three years thereby making him a part of the family and was given the engine as a gift.
Ben 10: Alien Force[]
In the first episode of Ben 10: Alien Force, Kevin joins Ben and Gwen to battle against evil. Even though Kevin became an ally to Ben Tennyson Kevin still did several things that made him an anti-hero. In the pilot episode he is shown selling weapons to the Forever Knights but ends up fighting Ben but loses. However, with the threat of the DNAliens, the Highbreed and the Forever Knights he joins Ben and Gwen eventually helping them stop the Highbreed invasion. He also has a rival in the form of Michael Morningstar, who he finds to be unworthy of being a plumber after seeing how Mike treated Gwen.
In the 3rd season he was subjected to another feedback pulse after Ben fails to hack the Omitrix. He then helps Gwen Lure Waybig causing Ben to defeat Vilgax. After Vilgax and Psyphon leave earth, he becomes a full member of the team. Later on he meets Charmcaster and falls in love with her Carline form (which was shown to be a ruse). It is also shown that a man named Ragnarok was responsible for killing his father. Kevin hated him so much that he refused to save him from death. Later, he returns to normal during the final battle with Vilgax and his Bioids.
Ben 10: Ultimate Alien[]
It is later revealed in the episode of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Ultimate Aggregor, that when he absorbed raw energy, he became insane, which happens to be the one of the Osmosians. Later in the episode The Forge of Creation, he absorbs the Ultimatrix in order to stop Aggregor from absorbing a baby Celestialsapien, but it does more harm than good after he goes insane again. After Aggregor has been defeated, he flies off, leaving both 10 and 16 year old Ben and 16 year old Gwen behind.
In the next episode Nor Iron Bars A Cage, it's revealed how Kevin escaped from the Null Void and how he turned back to normal between the original series and Alien Force and how he had gotten his material absorbing powers. In the same episode, he voluntarily goes back to the Null Void to get revenge on his prison's warden, Morgg. He almost got his vendetta on Morgg, and leaves the prison, thinking that he did kill him. Gwen still thinks that Kevin could get his sense back and go back to normal, but Ben says that they now might have to "put him down", meaning that Kevin might have to be killed. However, as of the end of the season one finale episode, "Absolute Power: Part Two", Ben and the others restored Kevin to normal, and Kevin is redeemed, becoming a hero once again. Beyond getting berated by Ben, however, he suffers no punishment for his actions.
He later joins his team to stop Dagon and his Esoterica from ruling the world. With the help of Sir George's sword used by Ben they succeed in stopping Dagon and Vilgax.
Future[]
- Main article: Kevin 11,000
In an alternate future timeline, Kevin is still trapped in the Null Void. While he was there, Kevin's been absorbing all the other aliens that were in the Null Void. He somehow manage to produce a son named Devlin Levin, and told him to open the Null Void projector so he can "spend some time with his son", only to turn on Devlin and attempt to destroy Ben and live a life of crime once more.
Personality[]
“ | Okay, I like the Kevin that Gwen sees when she looks at me. And I like that you gave me another chance, even after I messed up all those other ones. I guess I'm sayin' I owe you guys for changing my life. | „ |
~ Kevin thanking Ben and Gwen for helping him become a better person. |
When Kevin was 11 years old, originally he was a criminally insane sociopath, willing to hurt/kill anyone for his own personal gain and/or pleasure. This behavior and mentality stems not only from being seen and treated as a freak by his peers and family, but also because of the side effect of Kevin absorbing energy. His selfishness and sociopath-nature is made apparent when he was once willing to derail a money train to steal the money and kill countless passengers on another train. Kevin had an extremely negative outlook on life because of the countless hardships and struggles he had, feeling insecure about himself as well as having incredibly low self-esteem. He had a deep-rooted hatred for other people and society in general, even the innocent as he once said "Nobody's innocent! They just haven't had the chance to make fun of me yet!".
After being sent to the Null Void and meeting a prisoner named Kwarrel who acted as his surrogate father-figure and mentor in learning how to control his powers, Kevin eventually began to develop a better outlook on life and allowed him to form an actual bond for the first time. This eventually leads to Kevin making amends with his former enemies, Ben Tennyson (his best friend and younger brother-figure) and Gwen Tennyson. As a result, Kevin and Ben no longer share their famous rivalry and instead have become true friends. Kevin acts as an older brother towards Ben while they care genuinely for each other. Kevin is much more open about his feelings, showing gratitude and tries to express it to both Ben and Gwen. He also seemed to have a better connection towards Max Tennyson.
In addition to his new outlook on life, Kevin showed disgust at those who would take advantage of others such as with Argit when he was taking advantage of an alien's trust. Although Kevin may at times, do things unethically like selling weapons to make money or do things that involve getting money, his heart is always in the right place. He also showed distaste on how others care about only themselves will abandon others for their own selfishness such as when Kevin reprimanded an Alien Prisoner for being selfish in order to save itself while reminding him, about how Kevin himself was selfish before the latter's redemption.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Absorption: Kevin's primary ability as he is so experienced with this power that he can absorb anything from solid matter to pure energy.
- Electrokinesis: After absorbing electricity, Kevin is able to manipulate it with great prowess.
- Technology Manipulation: By controlling electrical currents, Kevin is able to control technology to the point where he was able to possess a forklift so that it would attack Ben.
- Omnitrix Absorption: Kevin is able to absorb some of the Omnitrix's energy to temporarily gain the abilities of Ben's aliens. Kevin can further utilize this ability to turn into eldritch abominations composed of all of Ben's aliens at the time and only needs to touch the Omnitrix for a few seconds to do so.
- Matter Manipulation: By absorbing matter, Kevin is able to manipulate the properties of said matter and use it to encase himself in a 'second skin' as full body armor. Kevin can even mix and match different types of matter (such as rock and steel) to augment his offensive and defensive capabilities.
- Superhuman Durability: While encased in metal, Kevin's durability increases to the point where he was able to tank uranium poop bombs with minor injuries.
- Transmutation: Should Kevin absorb so much matter, he can actually transmute himself so that he is made out of the material he absorbed as opposed to him using it as a second skin.
- Accelerated Healing Factor: While transmuted, Kevin displays a healing factor in which he can grow his hand back mere seconds after it was severed.
- Lock Picking: Kevin can also use this ability to pick locks.
- Shapeshifting: Kevin has demonstrated the ability to morph his limbs into all kinds of objects, such as swords, hammers, maces and scissors.
- Absorption Bestowal: Kevin is able to grant his absorption to others for protection.
- Electrokinesis: After absorbing electricity, Kevin is able to manipulate it with great prowess.
- Superhuman Strength: Kevin possesses immense physical strength to lift large metal containers with ease.
- Technological Prowess: Kevin possesses technological knowledge so advance that he easily outsmarts most of Earth in terms of mechanical engineering (though this is likely to his exposure to more advanced tech).
Trivia[]
- In the original series, Kevin filled out the role as the evil counterpart of Ben. This was due to him having the same powers and being just selfish as Ben could be, but lacking any of his morals. However, after joining Ben's team, that position was filled by Albedo.
- Kevin's surname is a common Jewish surname with several word origins. Therefore, Kevin is likely of Jewish descent, although this was never stated in any of the shows.
- His role as the final antagonist of Ultimate Alien season 2 was foreshadowed by Aggregor due to the latter also being Osmosian and due to being established that aborbing power making Osmosians lose control.
- The only redeeming trait Kevin had in his second mutation insanity is his love for Gwen.
External Links[]
- Kevin Levin on the Heroes Wiki.
- Kevin Levin on the Ben 10 Planet.