Planet of the Apes Wiki
Register
Advertisement

I'm saving the human race.
Dreyfus to Malcolm before sacrificing himself[src]

Dreyfus was a former police chief who became mayor of San Francisco shortly after the beginning of the Simian Flu Pandemic; which subsequently claimed the lives of his wife and children. He retained his position of authority in the rapidly depopulated city for a decade and took a militant stance against the evolved apes.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Dreyfus served in the San Francisco Police Department and was once involved in the U.S. military. Upon being promoted to Chief of Police, he set about making the force "leaner" and "more responsive". Crime dropped every year during his tenure and his administration led to the arrest of three major crime lords. He had a wife named Maddy, with whom he'd been married to for twenty years. Through this union came two sons; Edward and John were born. Dreyfus would cherish the time he spent with his new family.[1]

Monkeygate[]

By the time of Monkeygate, Dreyfus stepped down as Chief of Police the year before to compete against Mayor House for the San Francisco Mayoral election. When the Simian Flu broke out, he sought to promote himself by visiting quarantined areas in a bid to contrast himself with House, who had isolated himself from citizens and never appeared in public without a surgical mask. He went to St. Francis Hospital, where he managed to calm a rioting mob attempting to gain access to a non-existent cure. His actions inspired mixed feelings in his family; John looked up to him, whereas Maddy worried for his safety.[1]

With the help of his aide Patel, Dreyfus discovered the truth about the origins of the Simian Flu, as well as its connection to the apes, who were being hunted by Anvil, a military contractor owned by Polytechnic Solutions, which also owned Gen-Sys Laboratories, the company that created the virus. Dreyfus also learned that House received a bribe of $10 million to keep the connection between the virus and the apes secret. Dreyfus headed for the City Hall, where he defused another riot and was nominated Mayor by Daniel Nygun, the President of the Board of Directors. He soon stepped down amidst a wave of attacks by Alpha-Omega, a domestic terrorist group sworn to expedite the virus' "cleansing" of the "impure", and the realization that the title of Mayor no longer held any meaning. Shortly after escaping an Alpha-Omega attack on the City Hall that resulted in Patel's death, Dreyfus learned that his wife and children had contracted the virus.[1]

Co-Leading the Colony[]

A decade after the Ape Rebellion and years of the Simian Flu Pandemic that nearly wiped out humanity, Dreyfus, having experienced personal losses, met a man named Malcolm and the two gathered other human survivors. Alongside Malcolm, Dreyfus became co-leader of a small community in the once great city of San Francisco. Later, Dreyfus sent Malcolm's Group to a dam to restore power to the city so they could contact other survivors to rebuild what was lost a decade ago.

Dawn of the Planet of Apes[]

Knowledge of the Dam[]

Dreyfus was seen at a quarantine gate near the Golden Gate Bridge to meet up with Malcolm's group where learned of their encounter with the apes and what followed, while showing disbelief that they saw the apes talk. He has them keep quiet over the incident and is given an estimate over how many apes there are.

Encounter with a New Threat[]

The next day, he and his people bear witness to the Ape Army entering the city and arriving at the gate of their community, he chastised Malcolm over the apes numbers stating "That's helluva a lot more than eighty!!!". After arming himself. he tries to stop Malcolm from approaching the apes, though he is shocked to learn that Malcolm's group were telling the truth about the apes when he witnessed Caesar spoke. The Ape King warns the humans to stay out of his colony's territory or else there would be war. With that, the apes leave the terrified humans in their decrepit homes. Dreyfus then tries to calm his people by telling them they are immune to the Simian Flu and tells them they would have to find alternative power source for the city after discovering the ape encampment is located near the local power station.

Sending Malcolm into Ape Territory[]

He conversed with Malcolm about there not being an alternative power source and seeing no other solution, Dreyfus has a plan fight against the apes. His idea is shot down by Malcolm who begs for permission to go up to the woods for three days where he would plead for Caesar's blessings to work on the dam. Dreyfus tries to speak against the idea only for Malcolm to persuade him otherwise and the two come to an agreement that Malcolm would go up to the woods for three days. Dreyfus then tells Malcolm he's would take some men to the armory to see if any weapon still works and warns him that if Malcolm isn't back by the deadline, Dreyfus and his men will go to Ape Territory and wipe out all the apes.

War with the Apes[]

As Malcolm's group ally themselves with the apes to work on the dam, Dreyfus is shown at the Armory preparing his men for a possible fight with the apes while unbeknownst to any he was secretly being spied on Koba and his followers who would hurry to tell the other apes about this new discovery. Later on, Dreyfus is seen in the city celebrating with the other humans about the power being restored by Malcolm's group and the apes. Dreyfus grabbed a charged tablet would look at the pictures of his late family and express tears of joy seeing his loved ones. He would notice that his men have faintly made contact with other humans, to which Dreyfus orders them to try and get a better frequency. However, before this could be done, one of his men barges in alerting them that the apes have attacked the armory and making their way to the city gate. Shocked at this, Dreyfus quickly calms his people telling them "We are survivors! Now they may have guns but that doesn't make them men! They are animals and we will push them back!!!" Dreyfus prepares his army ready for battle and using ballista his group are able to take out many of the apes as a tank appears and begins to slaughter some of the enemies. Just when it seems the human army are winning, the new ape leader Koba enraged at the human's resistance, takes control of the tank by killing the driver and using the vehicle to destroy the human colony's gate. The apes then make their way into the city, throwing it into utter chaos with many humans being killed or fleeing for their lives. Horrified by this display, Dreyfus quickly has some of his men evacuate the colony and head underground before doing so himself. Sometime while hidden, he and his men were able to make contact with soldiers at a military base telling them to help fight against the apes.

Reuniting with Malcolm[]

A few days after the Battle of San Francisco, Dreyfus reunited with Malcolm and would show him the large amount of C4 strapped to the tower revealing his plan to ignite the bombs and wipe out all the apes in revenge for their invasion. Later, as he begins to excitedly arm himself, Malcolm unceremoniously pulls a gun out on him and his men telling them to give him a chance, causing Dreyfus to ask who he's talking about. Dreyfus asks Malcolm if he's gone crazy and tries to dissuade Malcolm about his decision of siding with the apes. Malcolm attempts to explain that he's seen how the apes live and they want to survive like the humans, not wanting a war. Dreyfus angrily states that the apes attacked them first and are all guilty, only for Malcolm to attempt to explain the situation but to no avail.

Death[]

Dreyfus then tells Malcolm that even if he stops him he and his men have already made contact with other survivors who were up north at a military base. He quickly grabs a trigger while stating "I'm saving the human race" before detonating the explosives simultaneously killing him and his men (minus Malcolm who ran for cover) and destroying the tower that the apes taken over.

Legacy[]

After Koba's violent uprising, Dreyfus sought to wipe the apes out as he viewed them as a threat to humanity. Therefore; he sacrificed himself to blow up the skyscraper to kill all the apes; but his plan had failed, although Koba was killed; by Caesar moments later. Dreyfus contacting surviving soldiers at a military base up north to fight off the apes also; made war inevitable between humans and apes. Dreyfus' main goal was to protect his people; even if it meant wiping out the San Francisco Ape Colony; but this was prevented; by Caesar; who had successfully ended the Human-Ape War two years later; albeit at the cost of the ape king's own life.

Personality[]

Dreyfus was seen as a man; who has been through a great personal tragedy. Before the deaths of his family, he was seen as a loving husband to his wife, Maddy and a loving father to their two teenage sons, John and Edward. To the people of San Francisco, Dreyfus was regarded as a hero for all his years on the Police Force and was seen to be always concerned over the wellbeing of others.

After the deaths of Dreyfus' wife and sons, he still held many of the beliefs he held before only he was more passionate and extreme, as he viewed the apes as a great threat to the survival of the human race. Dreyfus was also arrogant and overconfident, as he stated that if Malcolm isn't back by the deadline in three days, he and his men would go up to Ape Territory and wipe out all the apes. But, when the human colony came under attack by the apes, Dreyfus' Army was soon overpowered by the Ape Army.

Even after Caesar addressed the humans in English, Dreyfus refused to acknowledge him and the rest of his species as nothing more than violent, mindless animals and continuously berated the apes; unwilling to accept the facts lying in front of him.

Like Dreyfus' ape counterpart, Koba; he was unstable due to the inner rage he felt about the deaths of his family. Even when Malcolm attempted to explain the situation that the apes only attacked them because they thought the humans (apparently) killed Caesar and attacked their territory, Dreyfus refused to listen, and moments before he committed suicide, he claimed that he was saving the human race; which was quite the opposite as this was simply revenge on the apes for (supposedly) causing the deaths of his family. But it was worth noting that Dreyfus was willing to live in peace with the apes before Koba's attack, despite his hate of them, as it would have saved the lives of the people in his community as opposed to Koba, who provoked a false war with humans and refused to allow even a single human to remain free or alive.

Dreyfus attempt failed as the explosion only injured several apes on the tower and killed a few; when he detonated the C-4 explosives above him; he completely disregarded the fact that the explosion would not only kill him, but his men and Malcolm as well, and only wanted to kill the apes.

Relationships[]

Notes[]

Trivia[]

  • Gary Oldman's voice was featured in the teaser trailer shown at Comic Con 2013, telling the audience that 4 years were spent fighting the Simian Flu virus and 4 years were spent fighting each other. This possibly means that humans were turning on each other.
  • Since Malcolm, Ellie, and Malcolm's son are the human counterparts for Caesar, his wife and son, Dreyfus could be considered as the human counterpart for Koba, Caesar's rival.
  • Gary Oldman said in a recent interview that Dreyfus could be considered a protagonist or an antagonist, depending on one's point of view.
  • It is speculated that he may play a role similar to Governor Kolp, an antagonist in Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Both being the leader of the survivors and bent on the destruction of the apes.
  • Dreyfus could be a last name as it is mentioned in the novel, Firestorm that while Dreyfus was chief of police he was addressed as "Chief Dreyfus" and in the same scene in the book he is addressed as "Mr. Dreyfus".

Gallery[]

References[]

Planet of the Apes - Chernin Entertainment Series
Planet of the Apes (CE) Movies
Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | War for the Planet of the Apes | Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Main Evolved Ape Characters
Caesar | Bright Eyes | Koba | Maurice | Rocket | Buck | Cornelia | Blue Eyes | Luca | Ash | Cornelius | Winter | Lake | Bad Ape | Red | Noa | Soona | Anaya | Raka | Koro | Proximus Caesar | Coastal Ape Colony Gorilla
Supporting Ape Characters
Alpha | Burke | Verdon | Tinker | Grey | Stone | Andy | Wolfie | Jeanpierre | Lucky | Koba's Mother | Sparrow | Pope | Fifer | Cora | Rex | Bon | Dallas | Milo | Herman | Spear | Ajax | Oak | Fox | Aghoo | Ursus | Percy | Beardface | Armando
Main Human Characters
Will Rodman | Charles Rodman | Caroline Aranha | Robert Franklin | Steven Jacobs | Dodge Landon | John Landon | Douglas Hunsiker | Malcolm | Ellie | Alexander | Dreyfus | Carver | Foster | Colonel McCullough | Nova | Mae
Supporting Human Characters
Rodney | John Hamil | Rita | Sarah | Maddy | John | Edward | Roger Mason | Werner | Kemp | Clancy Stoppard | Corbin | Daniel Nygun | David Flynn | Finney | Kuo | Malakai Youmans | Max (Firestorm) | McVeigh | Terry | Roger | Rod Wilson | Preacher | Boyle | Lang | Travis
Families
Rodman Family | Caesar's Family | Malcolm's Family | Rocket's Family | Dreyfus' Family
Animals
Horse | Elk | Grizzly Bear | Eagle
Items / Weapons
Simian Flu
Important Events / Battles
Ape Rebellion | Human-Ape War | Simian Flu Pandemic | Battle on the Golden Gate Bridge | Battle in San Francisco | Battle of Muir Woods Park | Attack on Ape Waterfall | Battle of the Border
Organizations / Colonies / Companies
San Francisco Ape Colony | Caesar's Council of Apes | Caesar's Ape Army | Gen-Sys Board | San Francisco's Human Colony | Dreyfus' Human Army | Malcolm's Group | Alpha-Omega | Donkeys | Florida Ape Colony | Rocky Mountains Ape Colony | Eagle Clan | Coastal Ape Colony
Locations
West African Jungle | San Francisco | San Francisco Zoo | Gen-Sys Laboratories | Rodman House | San Bruno Primate Shelter | Golden Gate Bridge | Muir Woods Park | Ape Mountain | Ape Gate | Ape Village | Caesar's Home | Warehouse | Ape Waterfall | The Border | Oasis
Comics
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (webcomic) | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Contagion | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (BOOM! Studios) | Before the Dawn | War for the Planet of the Apes (BOOM! Studios) | Planet of the Apes: The Time of Man | Planet of the Apes: The Simian Age | Planet of the Apes: Devolution
Novels
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Official Movie Novelization | War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations | War for the Planet of the Apes - Official Movie Novelization | Caesar’s Story
Other Books
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Art of the Films
Soundtracks
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Soundtrack Album) | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Soundtrack Album) | War for the Planet of the Apes (Soundtrack Album)
Video Games
Plague Inc: Simian Flu | Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier | Crisis on the Planet of the Apes VR
Advertisement