Marvel’s Beware the Planet of the Apes miniseries reintroduced fans to the franchise’s original movie continuity – in the process, revealing a secret buried deep within the subconscious minds of characters Cornelius and Zira, one which played an essential role in the events of the 1968 film. As readers shockingly learned, the chimpanzee couple’s interaction with astronaut George Taylor was, in fact, not their first encounter with humanity.

Beware the Planet of the Apes #4 ties a bow on the comic’s storyline, which featured Cornelius and Zira venturing into the Forbidden Zone in order to rescue their nephew Lucius, another key supporting character from the first movie.

In the process, the pair became acquainted with the wild human Nova, and encountered previously undiscovered civilizations not far from Ape City. While readers questioned early on why these events were never mentioned in the film, the conclusion to the comic series provided a satisfactory answer, one that inextricably ties the prequel to the original Planet of the Apes.

Marvel’s “Apes” Prequel Adds Layers To Cornelius & Zira’s Role In The 1968 Film

Beware The Planet Of The Apes – Written By Marc Guggenheim; Art By Álvaro López

The iconic twist at the end of 1968’s Planet of the Apes hinged on the idea that the barren, desert landscape depicted in the movie was, in fact, the East Coast of the United States, radically reshaped by the millennia between astronaut George Taylor’s time and the ascendency of ape civilization. One of the most exciting aspects of Beware the Planet of the Apes – an immediate prequel to the film – was how the comic series further explored the geography outside of Ape City, as glimpsed in the franchise’s first two cinematic installments.

In particular, Beware established that the “Forbidden Zone” contained several other civilized communities – including a war-like gorilla city, but even more importantly, a seemingly benevolent group of mutant humans, who over the course of the story became allies to Zira and Cornelius. Though this seemed like a significant departure from Apes canon, the creative team behind Beware did a remarkable job of blending new and old details to create an engaging reintroduction to the original film’s world. In Beware the Planet of the Apes #4, their newfound human compatriots altered Zira and Cornelius’ memories of recent events as a protective measure.

This narrative decision did more than just preserve the integrity of the 1968 Planet of the Apes – it added depth to the story, recontexualizing the roles of all the major movie characters featured, most notably its protagonists, Zira and Cornelius. Especially considering these characters’ prominent role in the franchise beyond just the initial film, the decision to focus on them in the direct lead-up to the foundations of their world upended by the arrival of George Taylor produced a more nuanced reading of the movie’s plot for new and long-time fans alike.

Zira & Cornelius: Perfect Protagonists To Reintroduce “Apes” Original Continuity

Their Story Is Just Beginning

Traditional narrative theory accounts for four primary conflicts that are most frequently expressed in fiction:

• Individual vs. individual
• Individual vs. nature
• Individual vs. self
• Individual vs. society

Planet of the Apes presented a novel take on the fourth and final conflict – as, instead of rebelling against human society, the film pitted protagonist George Taylor against a strange, unfamiliar ape society. This theme was further articulated by giving Taylor ape allies, in the form of Zira, Cornelius, and Lucius, who rebelled against their own society in order to help the outsider. As an extension of this, the trio of chimpanzees made the ideal focal characters for Beware the Planet of the Apes.

As both a prequel and a revitalization of the original Apes canon, Beware had to do more than just deliver a satisfying plot – it needed to establish and extend the story-world beyond what viewers were privy to in the ’68 movie. Zira and Cornelius offered the most effective way to do this, through a story that both accentuated their core character traits from the film, and also provided surprising, exciting new context for “how” and “why” they made the decisions they did. Despite ending with their minds being wiped, Beware is clear that its story played an essential role in what happened next.

“Events will unfold without you having any memory of what you have experienced here,” the chimpanzees’ newfound human ally explains, as she abridges their knowledge of the adventure they just went on. “But the impact on your subconscious will remain. Guiding — perhaps even shaping — your actions.” This is just one the several notable direct connections Beware the Planet of the Apes draws to its source material, and without a doubt among the most impactful, especially considering how the original Apes continuity played out beyond the first movie.

Cornelius & Zira Could Still Be The Future Of The “Apes” Franchise

And Its Past

As Planet of the Apes fans know, Zira and Cornelius escaped the destruction of their world at the end of the 1970 sequel Beneath the Planet of the Apes – only to find themselves in the far-flung past in the franchise’s third film, Escape From the Planet of the Apes. While George Taylor’s role as the protagonist of the original movie is most often emphasized, it is worth remembering that audiences ultimately spent more time with the chimpanzee scientists. In a sense, they proved to be the true central characters of the 1968 film continuity.

The creators of Beware the Planet of the Apes proved to be keenly aware of this. The miniseries completely changed how viewers understand Zira and Cornelius’ role in the franchise, and more critically, may have set them up to remain vital protagonists moving forward. With the bleak ending of Beneath establishing a hard limit to the Planet’s future, it is possible Marvel will once more send its chimpanzee characters back in time; alternatively, it might diverge from the films, in which case Beware’s character trajectory for the couple would provide just as vital grounding for their role in the future.

In other words, Marvel has options for how it will proceed with telling more stories in the original Apes continuity – but one thing that is almost certain, Zira and Cornelius will continue to be essential to the franchise. Beware lifts them out of their familiar context and proves that the characters can be dynamic, action-oriented heroes in their own right, and that they deserve to continue to evolve as characters even after the fateful arrival of George Taylor, which occurs in the very final panels of Beware the Planet of the Apes.