Milo was a young male chimpanzee and Koba's childhood friend.
Biography[]
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm[]
Milo lived under the abusive rule of Tommy, the producer of Monkey of the House. Milo knew sign language and many "tricks", which Tommy forced Milo to do for his TV show. When Tommy acquired a young male bonobo named Koba, Milo quickly became friends with Koba, although they were never as close as Koba was to his late mother. Tommy trained Koba to do tricks like Milo, although Milo always outskilled Koba. The two apes were regularly forced to perform for Tommy's show, and were electrocuted if they failed or disobeyed, although Milo rarely did so.
Sometimes when Tommy let them out for the night, Milo and Koba would play together and steal some of Tommy's food. One night, Tommy forced Milo and Koba to drink alcohol for his own amusement, causing the two apes to get drunk. Because of this, Milo and Koba were unable to perform correctly the next day due to still being slightly groggy. Frustrated, Tommy left the room to talk to his supervisor, Alice. In his absence, an unruly boy approached Milo and harassed the chimp by poking him and demanding he do a trick. Provoked, Milo bit the boy on the nose in self-defense. Hearing the boy's screams of pain, Tommy came back and took the two apes back to his house, where he gave Milo a permanent muzzle, clasping his jaw and forcing him to be fed through a straw. Traumatized by the experience, Milo stopped playing with Koba and barely Signed with him anymore, causing the bonobo to feel lonely.
Some time later, Tommy's show was cancelled due to poor ratings and outrage about Milo biting the boy. Turning to drink, Tommy began to treat Milo and Koba even worse than before, barely feeding them. One day, when Tommy took Koba out of his cage, Milo pointed to his muzzled mouth and then to Koba, implying Tommy intended to muzzle Koba too. Terrified by the idea of being muzzled like Milo, Koba resisted Tommy, who punished the bonobo by scarring and blinding his left eye.
Several days later, Tommy committed suicide, but not before (for some unknown reason), unlocking Koba's cage. Koba then freed Milo and the two starving apes ate a lot and played together. Afterwards, they went down to the garage, which Milo opened, remembering how Tommy had done it. Amazed by the vastness of the outside world, Koba suggested to Milo that they leave Tommy's house and go far away to escape any more abusers. Milo refused, as he was worried about going into the unknown. Although initially worried as well, Koba quickly resolved to escape the next day no matter what Milo chose to do. The two apes then went back into the house to sleep for the night.
When the two apes woke up, they were surrounded by a group of animal control officers who intended to capture them. In a moment of desperation, Koba tried to escape without Milo, but got distracted for a moment when he saw an unresisting Milo being led into a truck on a leash, which allowed the officers to tranquilize Koba, thus capturing both apes.
Legacy[]
Milo was never seen or heard from again afterwards, and thus it is unknown what happened to him. Meanwhile, Koba was sent to a laboratory and missed Milo.
Personality[]
Milo's personality was complicated. He was submissive and obedient to his abusive owner Tommy out of fear of the latter's wrath, but was willing to steal food from him when he had the chance.
Relationships[]
Koba[]
Koba was Milo's close friend. Both of them were forced to perform as a part of a TV entertainment program titled "Monkey of the house". The two apes often signed and played together and sometimes stole their abusive owner, Tommy's food. When Milo had his mouth wired shut, Koba was greatly disturbed and concerned for his friend. Having been traumatized by being muzzled, Milo began to neglect Koba, causing his friend to feel lonely.
After Tommy committed suicide, Koba freed Milo from his cage so they could eat after being starved for days. When Koba suggested that they escape Tommy's house together, Milo refused because he was scared about going into the unknown. When the animal control officers came, Koba, in a moment of desperation, tried to escape without Milo, only to get distracted for a moment he saw his friend getting captured, which enabled the men to capture him too.
Milo was then separated from Koba, who missed his friend a lot and would long for the brief, but happy times they had.
Abilities[]
- Sign Language: Milo knows American Sign Language and uses it as a way of communication. It is unknown how he knows sign language and who he learned it from.
- Tricks: Milo knows a lot of tricks like smiling, "talking" (hoot-panting), standing upright, and dancing, all of which he was abusively trained to do by Tommy.
Notes[]
- His name is a clear reference to Dr. Milo from Escape from the Planet of the Apes, and Cornelius and Zira's son Milo, later renamed Caesar, from the same film.
- Quoted from page 163 of Firestorm, "This looks like that one chimp on the TV show", Somebody else says, pointing to Milo. "He has that same mark on his face". Here we get a bit of a unique characteristic that describes him, and that Milo is a Chimpanzee.
Trivia[]
- It is rumoured that Milo may have two different coloured eyes. One Green, the other Gold.