Cartoon Network Almost Had Its Own MCU With Ben 10

Cartoon Network was on the cusp of having its own Marvel Cinematic Universe like shared universe if the creators behind Ben 10 got to fully explore their plans for the franchise. Ben 10 remains one of the most notable releases in Cartoon Network’s history. The series stands out from many others as the action adventure epic quickly grew into a multiple season story spanning across many years, and even multiple universes before it all came to an end. But according to one of the creators behind it all, Ben 10 could have been even bigger with a shared universe involving other Man of Action hits.

Speaking to Cartoon Base on X, Ben 10 creator Duncan Roleau (who is part of the Man of Action team credited for creating the series) revealed that one of their goals was to create a Marvel Cinematic Universe like shared universe for Ben 10 with newer series like Generator Rex. While the series got to enjoy a crossover or two over the course of their respective runs, Rouleau explained that it was “too big of an idea” for Cartoon Network with many elements difficult to parse to make it all work.

Ben 10 Almost Had a Shared Universe

When asked whether or not they had considered doing a crossover between Ben 10 and another series, Rouleau revealed a much bigger idea Man of Action had in mind, “Our goal was to create an MCU type universe for Cartoon Network. [Generator Rex] was one of those characters. Unfortunately it was too big of an idea for the network.” Elaborating further, Rouleau revealed that while Ben has shown up in other shows through crossovers, the audience expectation made such crossovers hard to balance how involved each show is.

“Ben has shown up in other shows, but the problem with those type of crossovers is the audience expectations for their favorite characters are not always met,” Rouleau explained. “Compromises are often made so one character doesn’t outshine the other and so power levels, problem solving skills and other character attributes get softened so both characters get equal treatment.” It sounds like that with crossovers being so difficult to parse, an entirely shared universe would have been much more difficult to work out in the long run.

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Ben 10 Has Some Successful Crossovers

The crossovers Ben 10 did have proved to be successful with Cartoon Network in general, so a shared universe would have been welcome. Especially when factoring in the biggest of these crossovers, Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United, which brought Generator Rex and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien together for the second major crossover event of its kind in Cartoon Network’s history. Through this crossover it was clear that both series existed within the same universe, but unfortunately nothing more came from the idea.

Ben 10: Omniverse then had a special crossover with The Secret Saturdays, but this one had less success as it had to adjust The Secret Saturdays cast to fit within Omniverse’s own art style and ideas. Ben 10 was also seen in the special crossover episode of O.K. K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, Crossover Nexus, which then had imagined that the entire Cartoon Network universe was all within the same multiverse of heroes. Ben 10 was one of the key characters that fought alongside K.O., and this episode in particular is probably the closest Cartoon Network will get to a fully shared universe idea.

But if Ben 10 ever returns for another new take on the series, starting a shared universe from that point on won’t be so bad of an idea now that fans have experience with other kinds of multiverse stories. This was just an idea before its time, unfortunately.

via Cartoon Base