If you are looking for an answer to the question of the timeline of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, I hold the answers. How did the apes make a kingdom? Where did all the people go? Why so many prepositions? All shall be revealed.
What was the Cause of the Planet of the Apes?
For answers to the question of the beginning of the Planet of the Apes, we must go back in time. Not too far back! Otherwise, we’ll have to fit those pesky 70’s movies into the timeline. Ignore those. They ain’t part of the reboot and that’s what we’re focusing on here.
The modern Planet of the Apes movies start in the modern day, with James Franco in a lab coat (I don’t believe it either) working on a cure for Alzheimer’s to cure his ailing father. His employer Gen-Sys likes to test the medicines on poor captured apes. After one of his higher-ups orders a particularly adorable baby chimp to be disposed of, Dr. Will Rodman (Franco) rescues the lil’ guy and takes him home. Rodman’s father names the baby Caesar and the trio make a cute little family! For a while at least.
Caesar’s exposure to the experimental drugs led him to develop increased intelligence, and he eventually decides to break his caged brothers and sisters free from Gen-Sys’ clutches. The other apes gain intelligence after exposure to the experimental chemicals as well and revolution spreads like a virus. At the same time, a REAL virus caused by the apes begins to rock the world: The Simian Flu. The Simian Flu decimates the human population, leaving only a small percentage of humans alive. The hyperintelligent apes meanwhile establish themselves as the dominant species on Earth. Earth has become a Planet of the Apes. And so begins the film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Caesar establishes himself as the leader of a woodland community of apes, who believe that they are safe from humankind as a human being hasn’t been seen alive in years. That eventually turns out not to be the case: Humans are still alive. Some want to fight the apes for control of the world. Caesar wants peace, but a charismatic ape named Koba begins to become a popular reactionary political force within apekind. His hardline “Kill all humans” policies really do it for some of the apes, who still remember their days under human subjugation. Caesar eventually defeats Koba in battle, but it’s too late. The War for the Planet of the Apes begins.
A human military led by a Colonel played by Woody Harrelson wages a brutal counterattack against the apes, leading to the death of Caesar’s wife and eldest son Blue Eyes. The apes flee their home and find a new refuge in a secret oasis discovered by Blue Eyes.
While in hiding, Caesar finds a nonverbal little human girl, who he takes in as one of his own. Caesar confronts the Colonel, who tells him that the Simian Flu has mutated and that it now transforms its victims into violent, primitive animals. The first symptom? Speech loss. Knowing that humankind is likely doomed, the Colonel and his militia stage a suicide attack on Caesar’s people. The Colonel eventually kills himself after being exposed to the girl (and the Simian Flu) and the apes are barely able to escape with their lives. Exhausted from the fight, Caesar eventually succumbs to death in the safety of the ape Oasis, passing on his legacy to future ape generations.
Generations pass.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes takes place in the far future. Just shy of 300 years after the War for the Planet of the Apes. The apes rule, and feral humans populate the jungles. The action of the film will follow a young ape named Noa, who comes of age in a world of warring ape clans. An ape named Proximus Caesar has become a powerful leader, and has perverted the teachings of the original Caesar to justify the enslavement of other ape clans. He and his apes are searching for remaining bits of human technology, which will allow Proximus Caesar’s clan to dominate the world. Noa can’t let that happen. With the help of a young human woman named Mae, they might just have a chance of stopping the madness and preserving Caesar’s legacy of peace.
(featured image: 20th Century Studios)
