| “ | Struggle as you may. You cannot stop me. Soon, I will consume every living creature on this planet. | „ |
| ~ The Mycelium to Ben Tennyson. |
The Mycelium is a minor antagonist in the Ben 10 franchise, appearing as the main antagonist of the original series episode Camp Fear. It is a seemingly alien fungal being that wishes to consume all life on Planet Earth.
It was voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who also voiced High Override in the same franchise as well as Salvador Mendoza in Just Cause.
Biography[]
After arriving on Earth, the Mycelium took root beneath Camp Opinicon in the USA. Using its powers of communicating with and controlling vegetation, it created a race of mushroom people which it used to attack the camp and frighten away all but three campers. The Mycelium then prepared to spread its spores across the entire planet, turning anyone who breathed them into fungus and allowing the Mycelium to consume Earth.
Camp Fear[]
The Tennyson family coincidentally arrive near Camp Opinicon and find the three remaining campers: Gilbert, and the young twins named Andy and Mandy. To prevent them from leaving, the Mycelium sabotages their RV (the Rust Bucket) by covering the engine with fungus. It then begins releasing its mushroom creatures, which kidnap Uncle Max and attempt to surround the Rust Bucket. Gwen tells Ben he needs to destroy the mushrooms' mycelium to kill them.
Ben finds an underground cave system and is attacked by the Mycelium's tentacles. He discovers Max tied up by the tentacles and is then tied up himself. The Mycelium also attacks the kids on the surface, who escape the tentacles by hiding in a supply shed.
Ben escapes the tentacles by transforming into Wildvine, only for more tentacles to pull him further into the cave system. Wildvine and Max come face-to-face with the Mycelium, which tries to eat Wildvine and reveals its plan to consume all living things with the spores. Wildvine attempts to fight the Mycelium, but turns back into Ben. The Mycelium is seemingly about to kill everybody, but at the last second Ben's shoe falls into the creature's mouth. As the shoe is filled with Athlete's foot powder, this hurts the Mycelium. Ben gets and idea and drops a full container of the powder into the Mycelium's mouth, killing it alongside the mushrooms. The rest of the powder is then used to destroy the spores.
Trivia[]
- Some fans believe Mycelium was originally meant to have transformed the missing campers and councilors into his mushroom minions; but the idea got dropped.
