The Ape Rebellion, also known as Monkeygate and the Golden Gate Ape Uprising, refers to the rebellion of Evolved Apes led by Caesar. It began when Caesar, an intelligent chimpanzee who resided in San Francisco as the adoptive son of Will Rodman and Caroline Aranha, bit off the finger of ill-tempered neighbor Douglas Hunsiker while trying to protect Will's father, Charles. Over time, Caesar with the help of the wise orangutan, Maurice, the kind-hearted yet underestimated gorilla Buck and his former rival Rocket, began a rebellion to liberate their kind.
History
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Bright Eyes' Rampage
When test chimpanzee Bright Eyes began acting strange, her handlers attempted to bribe her out of her cage. When she was free and ran wild and ended up being shot dead in the conference room of Gen-Sys Laboratories in front of Will Rodman and the Gen-Sys Board. The ALZ-112 trials were shut down as it was believed Bright Eyes had gone wild because of the drug. Will visits the cage room to find chimpanzee handler Robert Franklin crouched over a newborn baby chimpanzee. Franklin and Will work out that the ALZ-112 hadn't caused Bright Eyes' aggressive behavior and that she was only being protective of her baby. Franklin encourages Will to take the infant home temporarily until he can find a sanctuary, only the newborn's visit to the Rodman House ends up being permanent with Will keeping the chimpanzee and naming him Caesar.
Caesar gets Locked Up
Eight years after Bright Eyes' death, the now teenage Caesar was sent to San Bruno Primate Shelter after biting the finger of an aggressive neighbor for assaulting his adoptive grandfather. Caesar, having never been locked up a caged environment before, becomes homesick and draws in chalk on the wall of his cell, the shape of his window from his room in the Rodman House. After being constantly picked on by both alpha male Rocket and the shelter's vile worker, Dodge Landon, Caesar began to build a resistance. After getting to know his surroundings, Caesar stole a pocketknife from one of Dodge's friends and learns to pick the lock on his cage door in order to free himself. Later through sign language Caesar ends up befriending the kind orangutan, Maurice, Caesar would break the seemingly rogue gorilla, Buck out of his cage gaining another friend. Caesar then lured Rocket out of his cage and into the play area where with Buck's help, threatens Rocket into stepping down as alpha and allowing Caesar to take his place. Rocket, reluctantly stepped down and offered his allegiance to Caesar.
As time goes on, Caesar plots the apes' escape from the shelter. When Will visits him after bribing the shelter's owner John Landon in letting Caesar return home, Caesar declined Will's offered to return home coldly upon seeing the leash in his hand, shutting the door in his adoptive father's face. Later on Caesar would make peace with Rocket by stealing Dodge Landon's cookies and making Rocket share them with the other apes as a show a good will. Before even attempting to break the apes out, Caesar sits and talks to Maurice. The orangutan asks why Caesar bribed Rocket with cookies. Caesar explains that when apes act alone they are weak but when they work together they are strong. An example of the apes' stupidity is shown when a bunch of apes including Cornelia exclaim when one of them hits the water they are playing with. Before wandering away, Maurice tells Caesar that their fellow apes are stupid which gives the chimp an idea.
Planned Escape almost Backfires
Using Maurice's testimony that the shelter's apes are stupid beyond belief, in the dead of night, Caesar frees himself from his cage and heads back to his old home. There, he watched Will and Caroline sleep for a moment before making his way to the kitchen where he finds Will's revised ALZ-113 drug in the fridge. He plays with the nozzle unleashing some of the drug, inhales it, and after discovering how it works once gaining more intelligence, he steals three canisters before heading back to the shelter. Once back, he used his stolen knife to pierce the canisters before rolling them down the floor, infecting himself and the other sleeping primates with the gas. Once unleashed, Caesar returned to his cage for the night. The next morning the apes awaken, unaware that they have been infected with the virus. Caesar examines them as they enter the den and sees they all now have green eyes like him a sign of their new intelligence. In the play area, the apes are gathered in formation as Caesar talks to them over his plans of freeing them as he talks to them he notices John watching confused at their new behavior the apes start hooting in defiance at Landon watching on as he walks off.
When the apes return to their cages that evening, Caesar remained behind, refusing to go back to his cage. Dodge notices this and has another worker named Rodney get his sniping gun in case things get bad. With his cattle prod, Dodge becomes aggressive and begins attacking Caesar with the apes shouting in defiance against him. Caesar gains the upper-hand and screams "No!" which shocks Dodge, Rodney and the other apes into silence. Caesar lashes out by striking Dodge and drags him to a cage. Caesar eggs the apes on before releasing them from their cages. When Rodney suddenly appears, the apes turn on him and attempted to beat him. Caesar, knowing Rodney to be a better human than Dodge, stopped them and puts Rodney in a cage for safe keeping. When Dodge recovered, he comes at Caesar with the cattle prod while Caesar defends himself with the water hose, resulting in Dodge dying from electrocution. Horrified at what he's done, Caesar is remorseful for his accidental slaughter. Caesar then decided to free all the apes in city so they will truly be free with that he liberates Buck and the apes escape the shelter and head to the outskirts of the city. Caesar divided his forces into two with him, Rocket, Maurice and a group of chimpanzees head for Gen-Sys while Buck and others head for the San Francisco Zoo to free their captive brethren.
Will discovers where the Apes are Heading
The next morning, Will awakens to find the door to Caesar's room hanging down. He then asks Caroline if she's been up to the room. Will rings the shelter only to get no answer. The couple make their way to the shelter to find the place in ruin and empty. Will finds Dodge's body and the canisters that once contained the ALZ-113. Caroline finds Rodney locked in a cage and terrified. He then tells the couple that he heard Caesar speak. The authorities are called and Dodge's death is watched on the CCTV monitors, much to the grief of John. Will, having pieced together where the apes are going, jumps in the car with Caroline in tow. She asks what he knows and he tells her he know where the apes are going.
Freedom is Pending
On the streets of San Francisco, Caesar leads the apes to the Gen-Sys Laboratories and they free the apes there, including the bonobo, Koba. Buck liberates the apes at the San Francisco Zoo and the apes use the cage bars as spears against the humans. As the apes attempt to make their way towards the Golden Gate Bridge, they ignite a riot over the streets. Several apes are caught by animal control before Rocket frees them by ripping the doors of the animal control van of their hinges. Caesar leads many of the apes over the rooftops and throwing the pointed fence posts that they stole from the zoo, into cars down below. Later, Maurice and Buck are in the city and encounter police cars heading towards them. Maurice throws a manhole cover at one of the police car while Buck throws a parking meter at the other causing both to crash. With the people in disarray, the apes use a trolley and proceed towards the Golden Gate Bridge as their next target.
Battle on the Golden Gate Bridge
Caesar orders a full-scale attack on the bridge and the authorities are forced to intervene by getting civilians off the bridge. Will and Caroline climb out of the car and see the chaos that Caesar has created. Caroline kissed Will for good luck before she rushes off. She attempted to climb one of the bridge railings to get closer to get to the action but is grabbed by a policeman. With the authorities distracted, Will makes a run for it, attempting to get to Caesar. Meanwhile, Caesar sensing the human's strategy stops his army and using tactical wit orders his new recruit Koba to take some chimpanzees up the bridge high rails to attack from above. Maurice is ordered to take a group of orangutans and chimpanzees to scale the bridge from under the supports while Buck and his band of gorillas are to push a bus in the range of police bullets creating a barricade as Rocket and others remain on the bridge with Caesar and Buck. Finally, Caesar gives the order to attack from the back of a police horse. The apes attack which causes a fierce battle to erupts between them however, despite their superior weaponry the remaining police officers realize they are no match for the apes and are forced to retreat, to which the apes celebrated their victory.
Will, now having caught up with the apes, called for Caesar who turned to look at him in surprise. Suddenly, a helicopter with Jacobs onboard appeared and began shooting at the apes until Jacobs pointed Caesar out as the leader. Buck jumped in to defend his friend and jumped onto the chopper, sending it crashing onto the bridge. Caesar pulls the severely wounded Buck out of the wreckage as the gorilla thanked him for his friendship and died from his injuries with Caesar at his side. Devastated by his friend's death, Caesar walked over to the hanging chopper where a still living Jacobs is hanging on. Jacobs begged for his life but Caesar, knowing its not his job to kill him, nodded to Koba to finish the job. Koba pushed the helicopter over the edge of the bridge as Jacobs screamed "Stupid monkey!" as he plummeted to his death. Caesar then ordered the apes to head for the Muir Woods.
Freedom at Last
Will steals a police car and makes his way towards the Muir Woods. Once there he seeks out Caesar only to be set upon by Koba who is about to attack him before being pushed aside by Caesar who has come to his adoptive father's aid. Koba hurries off, angry. Helping Will up, Caesar listens to his pleas to come home with the guarantee of protection from all the destruction caused by the apes and humans. Turning to face his new friends, Caesar realizes how he wants to live his life in freedom. Caesar exchanged one last hug with Will before whispering "Caesar is home" in his ear. Amazed that Rodney had been right all along, Will accepts Caesar's decision and watched as the other apes accept Caesar as their leader before they ascend into the trees, looking upon the damage they inflicted on San Francisco.
Aftermath
The First Days
Five days after the Battle on the Golden Gate Bridge, the apes struggled to survive. With so many apes injured and human forces after them, Caesar came to realize that he's acting solely on his and the willingness of the other apes to survive. When the apes have come to realize that they need food, Cornelia decides to add in her input as she knows the difference between forest food and jungle as she was born in the wild. She was immediately dismissed by Caesar, who found her incredibly annoying and opinionated. After talking with Maurice who has sided with Cornelia, Caesar admits that she has a valid point.
A New Time for Apes
Eventually, the event became well-known by the media and its connections to Gen-Sys became public knowledge. In the ten years after the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge and their liberation, the apes under the reign of Caesar have made the Muir Woods their home, building a large expanding Village and becoming more civilized than they were a decade ago. They also developed practices and customs such as teaching sign language, hunting, and other various activities for their people.
Attack in the Forest
After the attack, Blue Eyes goes out fishing with his best friend and cousin, Ash who teases him and brags that he could have done better with the bear. Blue Eyes, taking his cousin's teasing in stride tells him to shut up but the moment is short lived when they stumble across a human man, Carver in the forest, accidentally opens fire out of fear, injuring Ash. The shot is heard by Caesar and the other apes in the forest who rush out to find the boys only find the humans on the scene. Rocket rushes to his son's side, visibly shaken by the attack. Caesar yells (in English) for the humans to leave. They do, but not before Alexander, the son of the group's leader, Malcolm dropped his bag which is retrieved by Maurice. Caesar orders Koba to follow them.
The Next Step
Back in the village, Caesar listens as his council argue over what is to be done about Ash's shooting. Blue Eyes and Koba want to go after the humans and make them pay for what they have done while Rocket and Ash say that Ash's shooting was an accident. Koba ridicules Rocket for not wanting revenge for his son. Rocket snaps back and says that he follows only Caesar's orders and that he will do whatever Caesar decides. Caesar then silences the council by screaming "No!" at them. He then tells them that war could be costly for them that he will have a decision by morning. As the Alpha is about to head home, Koba tells Caesar he will do anything he decides but they must show strength. Caesar promises that they will.
An Issued Warning
The next day, Caesar leads the army into the city. Dreyfus, the leader of the human colony, tells Malcolm that there's a lot more apes than he thought. Malcolm, having been the one to meet the apes first goes out to meet Caesar, who threatens war on the shocked humans if they trespass on the apes territory again. Caesar then has his son, Blue Eyes drop Alexander's missing bag at Malcolm's feet before leading the apes back to the village.
Humans in Ape Territory
Despite Caesar's warning, Malcolm enters Ape Territory and pleads to the Ape King about giving his people time to work on the city dam in order to contact other survivors of the Simian Flu Pandemic. Much to the shock and dismay of his people, Caesar allowed Malcolm's group to work but on the condition that they surrender their guns to avoid mistrust or betrayal.
An Incident at the Dam
As time goes on, the apes and Malcolm's group begin to bond with even the hardest of both species softening with possibility of friendship. When Malcolm and various members of his group get caught the dam when it is suddenly about to explode, Caesar and his group of apes help them out. Caesar's youngest son scrambles out Blue Eyes' arms and goes to investigate their new friends. While Malcolm thanks Caesar for helping them, Blue Eyes hurries after his little brother. Ellie, who is checking Carver over for a suspected broken leg, suddenly becomes distracted when the curious infant climbs up her back and appears at her shoulder. Caesar and Malcolm watch curiously while a cautious Blue Eyes watches nervously. The infant plays with Ellie and Alexander before wandering over to the other humans, making a few of them smile. Carver suddenly becomes paranoid when the little one becomes fascinated with a box of supplies, uncovering a hidden shotgun. Blue Eyes, seeing his brother in danger, jumps in and hits Carver but is threatened as well. However, the two princes are saved when their furious father wrestles the weapon from Carver's hands. He threatened the humans with the weapon before throwing it over the dam wall. Scooping up his little son, Caesar declares the alliance is over and that the humans were to leave immediately.
A Sick Queen
Returning to the village, Caesar and the boys are summoned by Queen Cornelia's midwives. They hurry home to find Cornelia's health has taken a turn for the worst. They are then told she hasn't got long to live, leaving Caesar and their sons devastated. A moment later, Malcolm and Ellie enter to apologize for Carver's behaviour at the dam. They stop when they see what is going on. Caesar, still seething over what happened, tells them to leave. Malcolm attempts to plead with Caesar that they want to help. When this fails, Ellie pleads and is successful when Caesar, seeing the the desperation on his sons' faces at the idea of losing their mother, Caesar agrees to have Ellie give Cornelia antibiotics.
A Temporary Truce
Malcolm and his family having proven they were not a threat to the apes were give permission to stay for one more day by Caesar only with a few conditions; the first was that Carver be expelled from their group and that the apes were to aid the humans in their efforts. With the negotiations done, Carver was banished into the woods and the apes began to help the humans with the dam with things going along just fine until a surprise arrived. It was then that Koba entered, angered that Caesar was working with the humans after they just threatened his sons, stating he has put the apes in danger and accused him of loving humans more than apes and his own children. This last remark pushed Caesar over the edge and he angrily attacked Koba beating him to near death before remembering the "Ape not kill Ape" law and calming himself down. Koba then apologize to Caesar however, this was foreshadowing a dark event to occur. Afterwards the humans and apes were successful in restoring power which was elevated with the revelation of the Ape Queen Cornelia being alive and well, a celebration endured. While this was happening, Koba who had infiltrated the human armory and stole an MK-47 rifle had found and killed Carver taking his items as trophies.
Leader Down
Back at the Village, as the humans and apes celebrate the power being restored because of their partnership Caesar was watching his family embrace notices Koba on a branch, the two apes lock eyes with one another until Koba takes out his gun and fires at Caesar causing the alpha to fall from the branch presumably to his death. Blue Eyes then finds a gun and hat displaying it for all the apes to see just as the Ape Village goes up in flames (secretly set ablaze by Koba's followers Stone and Grey) which makes the apes flee their now burning homes as they react in frenzied panic at this chaos. Koba suddenly appears and is given the items by Blue Eyes, the bonobo tells the apes that humans were responsible for the death of their King and destruction of their homes. Koba takes power for himself and says that attacking the humans and their city is the only way to avenge their fallen leader which makes the other apes roar in agreement at. Watching this occur, Maurice (speaking for the first time) tells Malcolm and his family to run just as the apes start their charge into the forest.
Killing Spree
Malcolm and his family hide as the apes on horseback charge past them to attack the humans in San Francisco. Once in the city, the apes attack the armory whilst killing many of the guards and taking their weapons for themselves. The ape army then hear for the city gate where they do battle with the militia led by Dreyfus who orders his followers to push the apes back. Despite the many deaths on both sides, the apes were able to make their way into the city once Koba commandeered a tank and used it to destroy the gate to the shelter which the apes put into utter chaos.
Ape City
The next day, the apes led by Koba plunged the city into madness as they showed no mercy to the humans who were forced to run or hide to avoid their enemies. The apes had killed a majority of the people in the city and were becoming savage beasts in the eyes of their new prey. At the city hall, where many humans fled to for safety, a human man took a pole and attempted to defend himself, only to be defeated by Koba who toss the pole to Ash ordered him to kill the human. However, Ash, citing Caesar's teachings, refused and threw down the pole in defiance against Koba, but this proved to be a fatal mistake as Koba killed the young chimpanzee in front of the other apes. The bonobo established his dominance and stated that they were to follow him. With, that he ordered any surviving humans to be rounded up and placed in former quarantine cells so they would know "life in cage". Koba then ordered any apes still loyal to Caesar, including Maurice, Rocket, and Luca to be placed in buses next to the imprisoned humans. Koba then ordered his army to search the city for any remaining humans demanding they either be killed or join the other human prisoners.
Return Home
Meanwhile back in the forest of the Muir Woods, Malcolm's family who hid from the apes during their rampage find a seriously wounded and barely alive Caesar and gathering the fallen King, and bring him to the city. Along the way, Caesar explained who really attacked him and upon seeing what his people have done to the city he guides them to his old home after where the humans would find out about his origins and ponder on a way to save him. Ellie then remembered she had medical supplies at the apartment and Malcolm volunteered to retrieve knowing Caesar is the only one who can end this chaos. Malcolm then entered the city and after many close calls with the apes was able to gather the supplies before being confronted by Blue Eyes who briefly threatened him only to stop after remembering the death of his friend and the destruction Koba has caused. The young ape turned to leave but Malcolm stopped him by telling the prince his father is still alive shocking him. Malcolm then returned with the supplies while bringing his Ape friend a surprise, it was his son Blue Eyes who accompanied the human to the derelict Rodman House. Caesar is then given the surgery by his human friends and would rest until his wounds healed. During the recovery, Blue Eyes would learn of his father's past before his father awakes and they discuss their respective experiences before thinking of a way to overthrow Koba.
Inner Rebellion
With a plan in action, Blue Eyes would secretly returned to patrol in the city and would alert the captive apes that he'll free them. At night, the captive apes would cause enough chaos that they would distract their guards just long enough for the human prisoners to escape their cages before escaping themselves with the aid of Blue Eyes. The captive apes would then leave the area and head out into the darkness as the guards tried to shoot them down. As this happens, Caesar reminiscing about his past sees his son and more loyal ape followers return to him and with a sizeable force on his side, he must now figure out a way to enter the city without being seen. Malcolm volunteers to help as Blue Eyes tells Caesar, Koba sent for the females and young alerting Caesar that his wife and infant son are now in danger as urging him to end this madness.
A Duel For Power
Caesar and his loyal followers with the help of Malcolm traveled underground through the subway where Malcolm was forced to separate from the group after learning that Dreyfus and some others were hiding. Caesar and his followers then made their way up the tunnel to the top of the tower where the apes were located. Once there the other apes were surprised and amazed at Caesar's survival, especially Koba who leaped down to confront Caesar telling him he had no place among the apes as the army follows him now. Caesar stated the army follow the latter to war and madness before Koba arrogantly boasted that the apes will win with his leadership as they are strong and labels Caesar weak. Unhurt and defiant, Caesar retorts by calling Koba weaker causing the latter to throw away his gun and angrily tackle Caesar beginning a fierce battle. While this was happening, Malcolm was forced to hold Dreyfus and his men at gunpoint after learning they intended to ignite a large amount of C4 to blow up the tower the apes are on. Back to Caesar and Koba's battle, the two apes trade harsh words and put blame on the other for the events that have led to this point before aggressively taking their conflict to greater measures. The other apes observe and follow the battle to see which of the two apes will become their leader. Back to Malcolm's side, Dreyfus tries to get his colleague to come to reason but Malcolm is determine to defend Caesar and the others. Getting nowhere, Dreyfus tells Malcolm that even if he does stop him, he and his men have already made contact with soldiers at a military base up north and they were coming to fight against the apes. Dreyfus quickly grabbed the trigger for the C4 and stated "I'm saving the human race" before pressing the button which simultaneously kills him and his men and forces Malcolm to leap for cover. The explosion then heads up the tower where the apes are and destroys a majority of the building in the process.
Revenge at Last
After the explosion; Caesar saw that many of his followers were either hurt or dead from the blast and with the help of his friends, he temporarily forgot about his battle with Koba to help those in need. However, Koba was not as benevolent as Caesar and after acquiring a gun he opened fire on the latter killing and wounding many apes in the process while the rest ran for cover. Caesar, disgusted and enraged at this display jumped from a ledge and tackled Koba sending both of them to the ground and while Caesar landed to safety; Koba was sent left dangling for dear life on a ledge. The Bonobo struggling to keep his grip before noticing Caesar approaching him and in a cowardly (and somewhat ironic) display, he pleaded for Caesar to save him using the "Ape Not Kill Ape" law. Caesar grabbed Koba's hand and started to pull him up before remembering all the death and destruction caused by his former friend. Caesar then told Koba firmly declared "You are not Ape!" and let the screaming Koba fall to his death.
War is Dawning
With the battle over and Koba defeated, the apes saw the females and young entering the city and quickly moved to meet up with them. Caesar then noticed a group of chimpanzees holding Malcolm at gunpoint before ordering them to leave him alone. Caesar and Malcolm talked and the latter revealed that Dreyfus and the others made contact with a military base and that soldiers were coming to fight against the apes. Malcolm pleaded with Caesar to leave the city or else all out war would break out, but Caesar told his new friend that the war has already begun and because of all the terrible things the apes did under Koba's rule, the humans won't forgive them. He implored Malcolm to take his family away before the fighting begins and the two lament that peace could have been achieved if there wasn't any prejudice or hatred existing in their respective races. Malcolm then slipped into the shadows as Caesar embraced his reunited family. The other apes then bowed down to Caesar, signifying they once again accept him as their leader and awaited his guidance in the conflict to come.