Ben 10 was so dark. In ultimate alien ben says he jokes because he has a responsibility to protect the universe and be a symbol of hope even though inside he is broken inside. He has so much trauma from when he was a kid and it just kept stacking up. He saved the earth probably close to 100 times just at 10 years old and the universe a few times. Ben at 10 years old literally had a ticking universe destroying bomb attacked to his wrist and he couldn’t use it so he walked into battle with a fucking laser cannon because he knew he had a responsibility and stopped a thanos level threat. All of this spanned over a single summer vacation so the pressure on him was insane. Then a year after his favoriite alien feedback was taken away from him and because the omnitrix dna links to him he literally had a piece of himself ripped away and he got put in a depression and contemplated life. He only put the omnitrix back on to save his grandfather and after only 6 years of recovering he was back at it and was forced into a life of heroism again. In that one year as a 16 year old he saved the universe countless times by literal gods. He not only stopped god level enemies but also had the power to stop all evil with a single thought and was able to keep a clear mind and allow people to keep their free will. The most broken being in all the universe was able to keep it together to allow people to live life as it was meant to be. This is only bens perspective too. His friend and cousin were also very dark and broken characters. Kevin literally can’t remember huge parts of his life because he was enslaved and brainwashed and forced to do things he didn’t even know he was doing like enslaving others and killing people on command. Not only that but his father was a fake memory planted in his head. So Kevin went out to avenge his father and he threw his supposed killing into the fucking sun after he begged for mercy. Kevin killed a random guy on screen for no reason because he was brainwashed. Gwen wasn’t as dark but she had gone through similar things as ben because she was on all the adventures with him and she also had god like powers even stronger than alien x if she got too angry. She had to control her emotions more than anyone otherwise she would convert into full alien that can’t be controlled. There are a lot more characters that all went through a lot but the three main are the darkest. There’s also all the alternate versions of bens we have seen and time travel versions that have shown how deep the show goes. Ben literally created himself even though he could have prevented all his own suffering but he did it because the universe would be full of suffering and death otherwise. There is no darker story than ben 10 in my opinion even if it’s just supposed to be a kids show.