Comic-Con 2020: How can 'Ben 10 Versus the Universe: The Movie' live up to the success of pre-reboot films?
The rebooted 'Ben 10' series has struggled to live up to the previous version of the franchise. However, that could change if the upcoming movie 'Ben 10 Versus the Universe: The Movie' does well. Of course, this is hardly the first 'Ben 10' movie, even though it is the first since the reboot. And the older movies in the franchise have set the bar pretty high.
While live-action adaptations of 'Ben 10' like 'Ben 10: Race Against Time' and 'Ben 10: Alien Swarm' have received mixed responses, the animated films have been extremely successful. And the real competition for 'Ben 10 Versus the Universe: The Movie' is going to come from these films. Both 'Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix' and 'Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens' have garnered positive attention from fans and critics. So it is to these movies that we should look to see what 'Ben 10 Versus the Universe' can do to get things right.
For starters, a major criticism that the rebooted series has faced is that there has been a decline in action and an uptick in comedy. While humor is integral to any children's show, 'Ben 10' is, after all, an action series and that is an aspect that needs to be fleshed out in the movie. If the old 'Ben 10' was like Green Lantern with a 10-year-old protagonist, the new one is like 'Dennis the Menace' with superpowers. If the movie is to do well, it should embrace the cool alien action that made this franchise so very popular.
Another factor that needs to be paid attention to is the villains. A movie is only as good as its bad guy and the previous movies have all had pretty compelling villains. All we know about the antagonist of 'Ben 10 Versus the Universe' at the moment is that they are someone from Ben's past. That could cover a wide range of people but we're hoping it's Vilgax (Yuri Lowenthal). Vilgax is the Lex Luthor to Ben's Superman and we couldn't think of a better villain for the first movie of the rebooted series.
Right now, there is very little we know about the upcoming movie but more details are expected to be revealed during Comic-Con@Home 2020. The event is scheduled to be held virtually from July 22 to July 26.
'Ben 10 Versus the Universe: The Movie' will arrive on Cartoon Network in the Fall of 2020.
