After Ben saves the day for his high-school soccer team, he's named the team's most valuable player, and he can't wait to tell his Grandpa Max. However, when Ben arrives at Max's motor home, the Rust Bucket, his grandfather is missing. Things get even worse when Ben is attacked by an alien who is after Max. Even though Ben isn't wearing the Omnitrix, he manages to drive off the invader. Later, he discovers a cryptic message from Max hidden in the Rust Bucket, claiming he has the Omnitrix. Ben knows that isn't true since he still has the alien device.

Ben heads off to talk to the only other person who might be able to give him some advice. He shows his cousin, Gwen (Johnson), the message from Max. Unsure of what it means, the cousins decide to investigate, and Ben realizes he must once again put on the Omnitrix.

When they are suddenly faced with a mysterious alien, Gwen uses her magic powers to subdue the creature. They quickly discover that they are all on the same side. The alien is an agent of the Plumbers, and he was working with Max to investigate why the Earth is once again the center of alien activity. The alien tells them Max had been working undercover.

Ben and Gwen join him to check out the one lead Max left them with regarding an arms deal that is about to go down. As the trio suddenly find themselves overrun by hostile aliens and facing an old enemy, Ben makes a startling discovery. The Omnitrix and Ben aren't quite in sync anymore. While he does have 10 new aliens he can morph into, he once again has no idea what powers his new alien incarnations have or whether they'll be of any help in finding Max.

Ben 10 grows up

After four seasons of Ben 10, Ben has morphed into a teenager, and the creative team Man of Action has skewed the series a bit older with Ben 10: Alien Force. While some of the early Ben's charms may have been lost, the change no doubt will allow for more story possibilities.

Visually there is a resemblance between the younger Ben and Gwen and their teenage versions, but their personalities have changed quite a bit. Ben is less likely to be flippant at the sight of danger, and Gwen is all grown up. The sniping between the two has vanished as they take on the mature mission of trying to save Grandpa Max. Along for the ride is Kevin Levin, an old enemy who can't help but fall for Gwen.

Beyond that, there's some fun new aliens for Ben to morph into, including Swampfire, who can shoot fire from his hands, Echo Echo, a walking amplifier, and Humongousaur, a dinosaur-man who can grow up to 60 feet tall. On the villain side there are the DNAliens, who are plotting the destruction of the all life throughout the galaxy.

In the one-hour pilot episode "Ben 10 Returns," a solid script and serviceable animation reintroduce the characters and give the series a good foundation. Whereas Ben 10 reveled in the joy of a 10-year-old boy who could turn into a bunch of superhero aliens, Ben 10: Alien Force has a driving story at its core.

There's more at stake for our characters with the new series. Just like Ben, the series itself has grown up a bit. That allows Man of Action and the writers to delve deeper into Ben's world than they could before. So while "Ben 10 Returns" might seem a bit weightier than episodes of the earlier series, there is far more potential here. Ten-year-old Ben was a superhero because it was fun. Teenage Ben is a superhero because he can't bring himself to be anything else. It's a theme on which some of our greatest superhero tales were built.