Koba is the secondary antagonist of the ultimate and prequel timelines of 20th Century Fox and Chernin's Planet of the Apes reboot series.
He is Caesar's archenemy, vicious, attempted killer and victim.
He serves as a major antagonist of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the main antagonist of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Biography[]
End of A Happy Life[]
Koba was born and raised in a primate research facility, where he lived with his beloved and loving mother and their kind caregiver, Mary, who taught them sign language. Like many Sign Language apes, Koba didn't understand that apes who didn't use sign language were like him, and also wasn't taught by Mary what the word "chimp" meant. As a result, Koba regarded non-signing chimps as "big black caterpillars", and identified himself with humans, a sentiment Mary was aware of, but never made any attempts to change.
One day, Mary's assistant, Kuo, left the facility and was replaced by an abusive alcoholic named Roger. Due to being unfamiliar and uncomfortable with Roger's rough handling methods, Koba disobeyed him without even meaning to, causing Roger to verbally and physically assault the young bonobo in a drunken rage. When Koba's mother attacked Roger to defend her son, Roger retaliated by fatally beating her with a sack of oranges. Due to having never seen a dead animal before or even been taught about death, Koba did not understand at the time that his mother was dead, though he missed her terribly. As a result of the death of Koba's mother, Mary's project funding was cut, and Koba was sent to a new home which Mary promised would be good.
Used for Entertainment[]
That turned out to be false, as Koba was sold to a TV studio under the care of the abusive Tommy. There, he lived with another young ape who knew sign language named Milo, with whom Koba became friends, although they were never as close as Koba was to his late mother. Tommy was the producer of a comedy show entitled Monkey of the House, and regularly forced Koba and Milo to do tricks, electrocuting them or beating if they failed or disobeyed him. One night, for his own amusement, Tommy forced the two apes to drink alcohol, causing them to get drunk and accidentally hurt themselves.
The next day, Koba and Milo were unable to perform correctly due to still being slightly groggy. Frustrated, Tommy left to talk with Alice, his supervisor. In Tommy's absence, an unruly boy visiting the set harassed Milo by poking him, insulting him and demanding he do a trick. Provoked, Milo bit the boy on the nose in self-defense. Upon discovering this, Tommy punished Milo by wiring his mouth shut, which disturbed Koba.
Tommy's show was eventually cancelled due to poor ratings and litigation sparked by Milo biting the boy. Turning to drink, Tommy took his anger out on the two apes. When Koba finally tried to defend himself from Tommy's abuse, Tommy punished the bonobo by slashing his face with a knife and then blinding his left eye with a lit cigarette. Tommy later killed himself and the two apes attempted to escape his home, only to be caught and separated by animal control officers.
Tortured in the Name of Science[]
Koba was then sent to a laboratory, where he was subjected to painful experiments, the very first of which involved giving him an injection which almost instantly made him vomit while he was muzzled. He was also vivisected several times, always with anesthetic, but this ultimately made little difference because Koba's stitched up wounds always hurt whenever he woke up and the sedative drug always made him feel sick. When he wasn't being experimented on, Koba was kept locked up in a cage which had no enrichment. He tried to sign to his captors that he was not a "big black caterpillar" like he believed the other lab apes to be, but they ignored him. As a result of boredom, loneliness, and the trauma of the experiments, Koba quickly descended into depression. He even developed self-harming behaviors such as pulling out his fur and injuring his knuckles and fingers by Signing them against the floor of his cage until they bled.
Koba was eventually discovered by a neuroscientist named Amol and the latter's superior, Steven Jacobs. Amol knew sign language and, since Koba knew it too, selected him as his test subject for an experiment intended to improve cognitive ability. Delighted to finally have someone to sign with him, Koba reluctantly submitted to being experimented on. Amol then had a machine designed to produce images directly from the brain attached to Koba's head and back while the bonobo was sedated, though this ultimately made little difference as the machine still caused Koba crippling pain when he woke up. A few days later, after the pain had diminished enough for Koba to think clearly, Amol did lots of signing with Koba in order to test the machine's effectiveness. Although Koba came close to forming a bond with Amol, Jacobs fired the neuroscientist after his experiments failed, resulting in a severe financial loss for Jacobs. Afterwards, Jacobs confronted Koba in his cage, callously deriding him as a "stupid, ugly monkey" and claiming he would put Koba down if he could. This caused Koba to develop a strong dislike of Jacobs.
Koba was then moved to several other laboratories, where he was experimented on countless more times by many scientists. The experiments included being vivisected, forced to breath in two different gases (one made him go to sleep, while the second gave him a hacking cough for two days), having long needles stuck into his stomach without anesthetic, and having his eyes sprayed with a substance that hurt worse than tear gas (though very fortunately for Koba this didn't further damage his eyesight despite the pain). As a result of his unbearable suffering, Koba fell so deep into despair that he felt as if he was his cage and his pain. He also displayed aggression toward non-signing apes who tried to interact with him, as he still didn't know how, nor did he want to, interact with non-signing individuals, and only wanted to be left alone.
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A Dark Path[]
Eventually, in 2016, Koba, along with nine chimpanzees, was selected and taken to Gen-Sys Laboratories in part of testing the new ALZ-113 retrovirus developed by Will Rodman. Shortly after arriving, Koba was visited in his new cage by Jacobs, who had become the CEO of the lab. Jacobs sadistically taunted the long-suffering Koba, calling him the "ugliest ape in the world", and telling him that there would be no more "hand-talking nonsense," and no matter how human Koba thought he was, he was nothing more than an animal. This proved to be the breaking point for Koba, who finally realized that he was not human and thus concluded that Mary had lied to him that he was. After reflecting on how much pain and suffering humans had caused him throughout his life (taking his mother from him, blinding his eye, and abusing and torturing him in countless ways against his will), Koba repudiated all remaining affection he had for humans, replacing it with pure hatred and distrust, as well as a desire for revenge on all of humanity. Knowing it was impossible for him to reach all humans, but it was possible for him to reach Jacobs, Koba decided to focus his anger and hatred on Jacobs for the time being.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes[]
On the day of resuming chimp testing, Koba saw Will and chimp handler Robert Franklin examining the chimpanzees. Determined to get to Jacobs in order to kill him, Koba made sure to get himself picked first by holding out his hand from the slot of his pen, catching Will's attention. As Will dropped a cookie in his hand, Koba quickly ate it and held his hand out to demand another, cementing Will's decision to pick Koba as the first test subject. As Will, Franklin and an assistant strapped him down, Koba noticed Jacobs knocking on the window and joined, satisfying the bonobo to start his revenge on the cruel and greedy man. After Jacobs dressed up in lab testing gear, Koba lied still as Will placed a canister of the new ALZ-113 in an anesthetic machine and placed a breathing mask on Koba's mouth. Waiting for the right moment, Koba breathed in the virus and felt strange before he initiated his surprise attack by bursting through the restraints and trying to lunge at Jacobs. In the process, Koba disconnected his gas mask from the machine and knocked off Franklin's mask. However, before Koba could fully get off the table, the scientist managed to restrain him. Despite losing consciousness after Will reinserted the tube back in the machine, Koba kept breathing in the virus as Franklin rubbed his jaw, unaware that he breathed in the 113.
In a matter of hours, Koba felt his brain changed and was placed in a special room with a writing computer screen. Picking up Jacobs' scent as the human walked in, Koba wrote his name and turned to see an astonished Jacobs, displaying his new heightened intelligence as he conspired to kill him.
Liberation[]
Koba was later freed by Caesar during the early stages of the Ape Rebellion and immediately admired him for liberating him along with the other experimented apes. It would seem that he went off on his own as he walked in the opposite direction of the apes during his escape (most likely to find Jacobs) but he later met up with the other apes as they were causing mass chaos in the city. He and the other apes then set their sights on the Golden Gate Bridge as their next target before escaping to true freedom.
Ape Leader[]
At the Golden Gate Bridge, Koba was ordered by Caesar to lead the chimpanzees in an attack from above using the bridge's high-wire supports. His group narrowly avoided the helicopter after them, at the cost of Wolfie. Once Caesar gave his army the order to attack a large battle ensued. During the battle, Koba was shown holding his own against several officers and joined his new comrades in the celebration of the battle after the surviving police flee.
He was then forced to take cover after the police helicopter with (Steven Jacobs on board) appeared and starting wiping out many of the apes. But this threat was resolved when the ape army's fourth-in-command, Buck sacrifices himself to take down the helicopter to save Caesar. Steven Jacobs who been wounded by Buck's attack and the crashing of his helicopter had begged Caesar for help as his damaged helicopter dangled precariously over the water below. Caesar, angered over his friend's demise refused to help him and left Koba to do whatever he pleased with the human. Jacobs, recognizing Koba from Gen-Sys, got scared as the vengeful bonobo approached the helicopter and gently nudged it off balance with his foot. In defiance against Koba, Jacobs called him a "stupid monkey". With an angry snarl, Koba pushed the helicopter and sent it plummeting into the bay, sending a screaming Jacobs falling to his death. With his vengeance complete (at least for now), Koba left the area with the other apes who made their way to the redwoods of Muir Woods and embraced their newfound freedom.
Freedom[]
Later, Koba attacked Will and was about to kill him before he was stopped by Caesar who pushed him away from Will. Koba attempted to attack Will again only to be threatened by Caesar. Koba was surprised, angered and hurt by this, wondering why Caesar would refuse to let him kill another human after just letting him kill one. Nevertheless, Koba reluctantly obeyed his new leader, backed off and ran into the woods. Despite this, Koba soon acknowledged Caesar's leadership with the other apes.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm[]
Koba's first days of freedom were problematic for him, as he had never seen the moon before, had difficulty sorting through his now more vivid memories, and integrating with the non-altered apes, whom he still considered beneath him. Nevertheless, he continued to look up to Caesar, and hoped to be given a greater role in maintaining the safety of the colony. After a few apes were killed by hunters, Koba watched Caesar close the still-open eyes of one of the corpses, which caused him to have a flashback of his mother's death. This made Koba realize, for the first time, that his mother had been killed by Roger, although he would never understand why. Later, during a conversation with Maurice, Koba was told by the orangutan that the creatures he considered "big black caterpillars" were also apes, like him. Finally realizing the wrongness and human-like nature of his belief, Koba resolved to be respectful and loyal to all apes from then on.
When the colony was hunted by the forces of Anvil, Koba proved his trustworthiness by discovering tracking devices in fruit left as bait by Anvil mercenaries, then chose to save Rocket over an opportunity to kill one of the mercenaries. Later, Koba, leading a small team of chimps and gorillas and held off an assault whilst Caesar and the other apes moved to a safer location. Only Koba and two mmbers of his band survived the battle.
When the mercenaries attempted to bomb the apes, Koba managed to return to Caesar and save him and Cornelia from the explosions. Koba, Maurice and Rocket then moved the troop to a safer location while Caesar was unconscious, with a concerned Koba never leaving his leader's side. When Caesar finally regained consciousness, Koba was embraced by Caesar, who called him his brother.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes[]
Life of Peace[]
Ten years after being freed from captivity, Koba has risen to great prominence in the newly created Ape Colony which has taken to live in a village residing on the mountains, capable of holding a capacity of thousands. He has grown much closer in friendship with his leader Caesar to the point of serving as an honorary brother and advisor to Caesar, despite his opposition to Caesar's fondness for humans. Koba along with the other adult apes is now a mentor to the younger apes and is also idolized by Caesar's son, Blue Eyes who sees the bonobo as an uncle. At some point, he met and befriended two chimpanzees Stone and Grey who would often be found following Koba's orders seeing him as their leader.
Hunting Trip[]
One day, during a hunting trip in the woods Koba is with his fellow apes secretly observing a herd of deer awaiting Caesar's command which alerts the deer into a panic and have them flee in terror. As the deer run from Caesar's group they encounter Koba and his group who attempt to attack but are knocked aside despite their efforts. Koba then hears Caesar's call for help as he holds off a bear attacking his son. The bonobo immediately comes to his friend's aid and stabs the bear in the back with a spear, fatally injuring it and saving Caesar and Blue Eyes. Caesar thanks Koba for his assistance and they collect the body of the bear for food before heading back to their village. Arriving in the village, Koba talks to the maimed Blue Eyes and tells him not to feel bad about his scars as they show he is strong.
Hatred Reborn[]
The next day, Koba would hear the sound of a gunshot and followed the other apes to it's origin. Koba and the other came across a shocking and horrifying sight Rocket's son Ash wounded and a group of humans armed with loaded guns staring at them. After the humans put their weapons down Koba and the other apes scream at them (in English) to leave the forest which they do out of fear. Under Caesar's orders Koba, Stone, and Grey follow the humans in their van back to the human settlement where they discover just how many humans survived the Simian Flu a decade ago. After this Koba and his group head back to the colony for a council meeting on discussing what should be done about the rediscovery of humans. Koba suggests wiping them out for what they did to Ash but he is denied by Rocket who agreeing with Ash that it was an accident. Koba chastised Rocket for this but the latter states he follows Caesar. Their argument is broken up by Caesar who states the apes have done so much and cannot afford to lose their homes because of war. Koba then speaks to Caesar about his abusive past with humans and while saying he is devoted to him for freeing him states that something must be done about them, to which Caesar responds that they will.
March into the City[]
The Ape Army marched into the city where Caesar addressed the humans (in English), telling them that they do not want war but will fight if they must. He tells them to stay out of Ape Territory while they will do the same with staying out of human territory. With that the apes march out of the city. As they do so Koba (the last to leave) angrily glares at Malcolm and the other humans before leaving the city with his people.
Turning against Caesar[]
Malcolm, the co-founder of the human colony, entered the Ape Village where he attempts to make peace with the apes to gain access to a hydroelectric generator at a dam in their territory, which could provide long-term power to the city. Koba encouraged Caesar to let him kill Malcolm and to wipe the other humans out while they are still desperate. However, seeing prospects for peace, Caesar allowed Malcolm and his group access to the dam provided they work unarmed. This angers Koba who begins to show signs of rebelling against his leader for being merciful to the race that caused so much pain and grief in the past. Koba claims that if the humans get more power, they will become more dangerous, but Caesar reasons that if the humans are left to do their work then they will leave. Feeling betrayed, Koba reminds Caesar of the abuse he suffered at the hands of humans, pointing to his multiple scars and finishing with his blind eye as; "Human work!". His defiance starts a sudden silence in the village as Caesar stands up above Koba, but Koba escapes the conflict by asking for his king for forgiveness, which Caesar accepts. Koba then leaves in shame and disappointment.
Usurpation[]
The following day at the river dam, Caesar and several apes accompany the humans to keep an eye on them as they work, all except for Koba. Caesar asks Maurice where the bonobo has gone, which the orangutan tells him; "Still angry… Said he was going hunting".
Meanwhile in San Francisco, Koba with Grey and Stone spy on the human armory and sees they have enough weapons to wipe out all of his people with that he quickly heads back to the village to warn Caesar. But Koba is caught in the act by two human guards who threaten him, yet he manages to catch them off guard by playing dumb and walking away, rolling his eyes in frustration.
Upon reaching the village and searching for Caesar, he speaks with Blue Eyes who tells him that Caesar is at the dam with the humans. Arriving at the dam he attacks Alexander and when the human boy remarks about this Koba moves to hurt Alexander more only for Maurice and Malcolm to stand between them with this action he angrily shouts for Caesar to come out to which he does. Koba confronts Caesar about his tolerance of the humans, saying that they threatened his sons, but he still lets them work on the dam. Koba goes onto rant about his leader's tolerance to humans, accusing Caesar of loving them more than apes and even more than his own sons. Enraged by Koba's insolence, Caesar attacks Koba and beats him so badly he draws blood. Caesar nearly strangles Koba to death, but stops himself at the last moment after remembering the "Ape Not Kill Ape" law. As he lies on the floor, the beaten and bleeding Koba looks to his fellow apes for help, but they avoid his gaze, though the humans continue to stare at Koba. With no other choice, Koba submits and begs Caesar to forgive him. Caesar accepts and Koba leaves the dam immediately afterwards. This fight proves to be the breaking point in their relationship as the furious, traumatized, and utterly humiliated Koba secretly makes plans to usurp Caesar and deal with the humans.
Later, Grey asks a sulking Koba why he did not tell Caesar about the large collection of guns in the city under human guard, but the bonobo responds that they will keep it a secret. Koba later approaches Blue Eyes, the former broken after having lost Caesar's trust in him, and warns his honorary nephew to protect his father, claiming to continue fearing for Caesar's safety as long as the humans remained within the ape territory. He later returns to the armory targeting range where he was caught before, managing to run into the same two human guards again. Playing dumb, Koba "plays" with the intoxicated men and steals an M4A1 assault rifle from them, waving it around like a plaything before suddenly opening fire and killing them both with it. He leaves the area with his new weapon and rushes back to the forest along with his followers.
That night, power is restored to San Francisco. The humans rejoiced and Malcolm's team celebrated with the apes. Meanwhile, Koba ambushes Carver and beats him to death, taking his hat and lighter as trophies. Returning to the Ape Village, he has his two followers secretly set a part of the village alight. In hiding, Koba uses the assault rifle to shoot Caesar in the shoulder as the two lock eyes, apparently killing him as the latter falls off a ledge into the darkness below. Koba then leaves the rifle and Carver's hat at the scene of the shooting. As the ape colony enters a frenzy with the loss of their king and homes, Blue Eyes appears with the gun and Carver's baseball hat and gives them to an arriving Koba, who takes advantage of the confusion to blame the humans for Caesar's death and burning the colony's home. Manipulating Blue Eyes and the other apes, he takes up the mantle of alpha for himself and orders war with the humans as the only option to "avenge" Caesar.
Leading his people into madness[]
Assuming leadership, Koba orders the young and females into hiding and leads the male apes to war in San Francisco. The apes overwhelm the armory and charge the gates of the high rise, peppering the unprepared humans with gunfire. During the battle, Koba's horse is quickly killed at the beginning of the battle, along with many other apes. The apes become worried as they suffer many casualties and consider retreating, but Koba does not give up. He picks up a dead ape's gun, jumps onto another horse by pushing the ape already on the horse off it and after grabbing a second gun, he begins shooting at the humans, killing several of them. Blue Eyes, Luca and several apes watch in shock as Koba shows colors and violence like no other ape had ever shown before. Just as he is about to enter the human's main building, a tank, supporting the humans appeared and frequently fires rockets and bullets at the apes, killing many of them. Enraged, Koba bravely attacks and takes control of the tank, using it to enter the human's main shelter by knocking down a pillar, which in turn knocks down the door.
After heavy casualties, Koba and the remaining apes begin to capture the surviving humans. Koba eventually corners two humans (who were attempting to resist the apes), disarming one of them and orders Ash to kill the unarmed man, but the young chimpanzee refuses to do so, citing Caesar's teachings. Koba pats Ash's back as if to console him, but then seizes him by the neck and roughly drags Ash up some stairs to the top of a balcony. Koba then ruthlessly kills Ash by throwing him off the balcony to his death. He then tells the terrified apes that Caesar is gone and they follow him now. All the present apes, especially Blue Eyes, are shocked and horrified by Koba's murder of Ash, but are too afraid to stand up to him.
After this, Koba has his army round up any human survivors left in the city, declaring they are the apes prisoners and will know life inside a cage. He also imprisons Caesar's remaining sympathizers on a bus adjacent to the humans; these apes include Maurice, Rocket, Luca and several others. With this act, Koba essentially became the ruthless tyrant, that both humans and the other apes feared the most.
Battle with Caesar[]
Blue Eyes later learns his father is alive, and by himself, manages to free the imprisoned humans and Caesar's loyalists. The freed apes join Caesar and travel to the summit of the high rise to confront Koba who is surprised to see Caesar still alive before jumping down to confront him.
At first, it established a frenzied argument between the two apes as Koba states that the apes now follow him, but Caesar remarked that they follow him to war with the humans. Koba, however proudly states they will win the war with him leading them, saying "Apes together strong!" He mocks Caesar by saying "Caesar weak", but Caesar, unhurt and defiant, quietly retorts "Koba weaker". Enraged, Koba attacks his former friend and the two apes engage in a brutal fight. Koba initially has the upper hand easily, managing to land several blows on Caesar and push him off a girder. However, Caesar manages to pull Koba down with him, and in the fall, a rod stabs Koba in the side, wounding him. More furious than before, Koba grabs a metal bar and chases Caesar around the tower, trying to beat him with the bar, while the other apes can do nothing but watch.
Eventually, Koba corners Caesar on a ledge, but Caesar grabs a piece of metal to use as a shield. The two apes trade words on what caused this with Caesar stating he had loved and trusted Koba like a brother, while the latter remarks that Caesar is a brother to humans while Koba fights for apes to free them from tyranny. Caesar angrily rebukes Koba's claims stating "Koba fight for Koba", and he belongs in a cage, which leads the bonobo to attack him even more angrily. Koba eventually manages to knock away Caesar's makeshift shield, but as the bonobo tries to deliver the deathblow, Caesar manages to strike Koba's wounded side several times, weakening the bonobo and making him drop his weapon. Enraged, in pain, and weaponless, Koba nevertheless continues fighting. While Caesar and Koba battle to establish supremacy, C-4 explosives (implanted by Dreyfus) detonate underneath the tower, injuring and killing several apes.
As Caesar and others assist the injured and trapped from the falling debris, Koba finds Grey trapped under debris. He lifts the debris and picks up Grey's assault rifle, but then callously drops the debris, leaving his former follower trapped. Koba wildly shoots at Caesar, killing one of the apes Caesar rescued and forcing the rest of the apes to run for cover. Blue Eyes throws some building debris at Koba, to which he angrily retaliates by firing at Blue Eyes, injuring Maurice in the process. After viewing what Koba has done to Maurice and the other apes, Caesar furiously dives at Koba, knocking him off guard and sending the two tumbling down a platform. Caesar falls to safety while Koba is left dangling on a ledge clinging for dear life.
Death[]
Koba, hanging from the ledge, starts climbing and pleads with Caesar to save him, hypocritically citing the "Ape not kill ape" law. Caesar, grabs Koba's hand and starts to pull him up, relieving Koba until he notices the look on Caesar's face as he looked upon the trauma Koba has caused and hears him say in a dark tone: "You are not ape". Caesar then lets go of the surprised Koba's hand and lets the evil ape fall from the tower to his death, thus putting an end to the rogue ape's reign of terror. The remaining apes then cheer on Caesar while the latter briefly mourned Koba's death, as he had previously been like a brother to him.
War for the Planet of the Apes[]
Despite Koba being dead at the time of the Human-Ape War, Caesar and other apes still lived under his shadow, including Maurice who compared Caesar to Koba at one point because of Caesar's lust for revenge against humans. Koba was mentioned when Caesar stated to the captured soldiers that he was not the one who started the war, but Koba who he killed for his vile actions. Koba appears in two hallucinations of Caesar, where he continually haunts Caesar. His first appearance in a hallucination is after Caesar inadvertently kills Winter, reminding him that he just killed an ape and broke his rule. Koba's ultimate and second appearance was Caesar's hallucination during his torture, where he scolded Caesar saying that he can't save the rest of the apes, and that he should join him in the afterlife.
Gallery[]
