The Planet of the Apes franchise has offered several different versions of humanity’s demise in its nearly 60-year history, and even the original films were inconsistent. The 1968 Charlton Heston classic notably diverged from its source material, and author Pierre Boulle’s biting political satire was transformed into a straightforward science fiction adventure story with some Cold War touches. While some changes were inevitable, the original Planet of the Apes movies never kept their story straight, and the modern prequel series only made things more confusing with additional changes.

The modern films started with the release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011, and though it pulled from ideas presented in the original movies, it still retconned the fall of humanity. The Planet of the Apes timeline is understandably confusing, and each new reset to the origin story only adds to the complicated lore. Whether to reflect Cold War fears, or to present a more plausible approach to the fall of man, the “end of the world” in Planet of the Apes has been one of the most flexible details of the blockbuster series.

Planet Of The Apes (1968) Revealed Apes Took Over After Humans Destroyed Themselves

The Original Planet Of The Apes Reflected Cold War Fears

Science fiction is often used to explore modern ideas through an obfuscated lense, and the original Planet of the Apes film from 1968 was no different. While it may have dropped a lot of the political satire of Boulle’s book, it still reflected current events when explaining how humanity fell. The shocking ending of Planet of the Apes shows Heston’s astronaut character, Taylor, discover the remains of the Statue of Liberty on a beach, which leads him to realize he’s been on Earth the entire time and not on some distant alien planet.

The movie leaves things hanging there, and never really explains what caused humanity to collapse and apes to rise. However, it can be deduced that humanity wiped themselves out through a nuclear war, something that is eventually corroborated by the first sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Though US and Soviet Union were improving in the late 1960s, the anxiety of early-’60s Cold War paranoia was still fresh in the minds of audiences and creators. A nuclear war was the apocalypse du jour, and Boulle’s vague explanation wouldn’t have fit in 1968.

In the book, the astronauts escape the тιтular planet on a rocket and return safely to Earth. Unfortunately, Earth has already fallen to the apes too. It’s explained that humanity tamed apes and that they eventually succumbed to laziness and were therefore easier to overthrow by their simian superiors. Boulle was obviously using that explanation as a political comment, but it isn’t particularly satisfying in a cinematic context. Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes borrows the book’s ending, but doesn’t really explain the fall of man.

Earth Is Destroyed At The End Of Beneath The Planet Of The Apes

A Human Finally Blows Up The Whole Planet

The lore around the fall of humanity has shifted several times throughout the Planet of the Apes franchise, but only once has the planet itself actually been completely destroyed. 1970’s poorly-reviewed sequel film, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, not only explains what happened to humanity (destroyed in a nuclear war) but also introduces a cult of mutated humans who worship a nuclear bomb. The creepy concept builds upon the twist at the end of the first movie, and allowed for a bit more information about why humans were eventually conquered by the apes.

Unfortunately, Beneath the Planet of the Apes is the end of the original timeline, with the subterranean mutants using their “doomsday bomb” to finally wipe the entire planet out for good. Taylor, ironically, is the one to actually detonate the bomb, taking the entire Earth with him in the process. However, some clever writing and the use of time travel allowed the franchise to continue a few years later in Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

Escape From The Planet Of The Apes Retconned How Apes Took Over Earth

Time Travel Muddies Up The Timeline

Though Earth itself was obliterated at the end of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes explains that Zira and Cornelius were able to escape in Taylor’s repaired space vehicle. However, the explosion sent them through a time warp where they landed back on Earth in the modern day. From there, the duo are captured, and they set in motion a series of events which alters the eventual downfall of humans. While trying to warn humanity about their impending doom through nuclear war, the ape couple accidentally retcon things by tampering with the timeline.

There are plenty of forces on Earth who want Zira and Cornelius ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, and though they eventually succeed, Zira’s newborn son is secretly spirited away to a circus where he is able to blend in with the apes of normal intelligence. Flash-forward to the next sequel, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, and it’s now a decade in the future after a pandemic wiped out all cats and dogs on the planet. This has led humans to domesticate apes as pets and slave-labor, on top of the fact that the government has become increasingly militarized and authoritarian.

Zira and Cornelius’ son, now named Caesar, works as a circus performer, but becomes increasingly resentful of the poor treatment of ape-kind. Caesar eventually leads a rebellion against humans, which is ostensibly the starting point of the downfall of humankind. This is already a major departure from the first movie, and leaves out the nuclear war entirely. However, the final film in the original series, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, explains that humanity would still wipe themselves out using nuclear war.

What Happened To Earth In The New Planet Of The Apes Movies

The Reboot Quardrilogy Builds On Ideas From The Classic Movies

Rise of the Planet of the Apes kicks off a reboot quadrilogy that essentially serves as a prequel series to the classic movies, though it too tampers with the timeline a bit. Completely ignoring the events of Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Rise introduces a chimpanzee named Caesar who is genetically enhanced by a scientist (James Franco’s Will Rodman) who is trying to find a cure for his father’s Alzheimer’s disease. Through a series of mistreatments, the smart ape eventually leads an uprising against humankind, though it’s a small-scale revolution that doesn’t end all civilization.

The modern Planet of the Apes franchise includes:

However, the movie planted the seeds of man’s downfall in the form of the “Simian Flu”, which was introduced as a side effect of the experiments. Much like the virus in Conquest, the “Simian Flu” sets in motion the downfall of mankind, but there is no nuclear war. Instead, Dawn, War, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes explore the last vestiges of humanity as it tries and fails to co-exist with ape society. Though the story changed frequently, the downfall of humankind in Planet of the Apes was always caused by humans themselves.

Planet of the Apes

Created by

Pierre Boulle

First Film

Planet of the Apes

First TV Show

Planet of the Apes

Cast

Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, Linda Harrison, Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, James Franco, Andy Serkis, John Lithgow, Freida Pinto, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jason Clarke, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer, Woody Harrelson, Amiah Miller, Kevin Durand, Dichen Lachman, William H. Macy, Owen Teague, Freya Allan

TV Show(s)

Planet of the Apes, Return to the Planet of the Apes

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