Marvel’s Planet of the Apes Series Makes the 1968 Movie Even Better (Without Changing a Thing)

Marvel’s Beware the Planet of the Apes miniseries did exactly what prequels are meant to do, but often struggle to accomplish – telling its own, satisfying, self-contained story, while at the same time elevating the original Planet of the Apes in fresh and unexpected ways. More than just honoring the 1968 film, Marvel’s return to the franchise’s original continuity highlighted the incredible story potential of the Apes concept.

Beware the Planet of the Apes delivered a straightforward story, but undergirding that was an ambitious approach to the setting late ’60s/early ’70s movies, as the series expanded the geography and the mythology of the Planet, revitalizing it for future creators to push even further.

Where Marvel goes next with Planet of the Apes remains to be determined – though the final pages of Beware hinted that this was only “the beginning…” The conclusion of the arc led directly into the start of the ’68 film, suggesting that there are more plans in store for the continuity.

Marvel Revitalized The Planet Of The Apes, Rather Than Rebooting It

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

The four-issue Beware the Planet of the Apes takes place immediately preceding the arrival of George Taylor and his fellow astronauts on the future Earth – an event that precipitated the eventual destruction of the entire planet in the franchise’s first sequel, 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Beware positions this as the true, central tension looming over the miniseries from its very first panel, while choosing to tell a story that informs these subsequent events in subtle, yet crucial ways.

At the heart of Beware are a trinity of characters from the original cinematic Apes: the chimpanzees Zira and Cornelius, and the wild human woman Nova. More than just offering novel insight into the plot of 1968’s Planet of the Apes, Beware casts its main characters’ actions in the film in entirely new contexts. In addition to granting Nova the character agency she had lacked in previous depictions, the comic went a step further by giving her precognitive glimpses of the future with Taylor.

This changes how viewers will perceive pivotal scenes in the film. As just one example, the extended look Nova and Taylor exchange during their very first encounter early in the movie – rather than a moment of instant attraction, Beware the Planet of the Apes recontextualizes this as a flash of recognition. Similarly, Zira and Cornelius’ support of Taylor is revealed to have been a result of the miniseries’ events. With this approach, Beware succeeded in reigniting fans’ interest in the original Apes film continuity, without having to reboot or rewrite it.

Marvel’s “Apes”: A Glimpse Of The Past, With An Eye Toward The Future

A Prescient Prequel

One of the most thrilling aspects of Beware the Planet of the Apes was the way it integrated select panels from Marvel’s classic adaptations of the original films. More than just a stimulating aesthetic flourish, however, this technique was essential to the overall project of the comic. The story of Beware may have taken place immediately prior to the ’68 movie, but there is a deep vein of impending dread throughout, concerning the terminal endpoint of the original Apes continuity. While this tension informed the progression of the miniseries’ plot, its more direct influence was on readers’ perception of the story.

Beware introduces two new factions into Apes canon – a previously unknown gorilla city, and a group of mutant humans reminiscent of, though seemingly unrelated to, the subterranean bomb-worshipping human cult who played a central role in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and ultimately, the annihilation of the world. For readers, especially long-time fans of the franchise, these additions to lore come at odds with the knowledge that there is a hard temporal limit on how the dynamics between these rival societies can be explored, if the original canon beyond the 1968 film is not to be subverted.

Readers have speculated that a future Apes series could diverge from the events of Beneath, or perhaps make drastic alterations to continuity before that – perhaps by even killing off Taylor early, or through some other drastic swerve on fans’ expectations. For decades, the ending of Beneath has resulted in something of a prequel problem for Planet of the Apes; if nothing else, Beware proved that Marvel is aware of this, while further suggesting that they will seek to remedy it in one way or another.

Beware The Planet Of The Apes Was A Prequel With Consequences

Its Events Reverberate In The ’68 Film

What is impressive about Beware the Planet of the Apes is that it teases these possibilities, while remaining committed to telling a very focused, linear story: when their nephew Lucius strays into the Forbidden Zone, Zira and Cornelius mount a rescue, leading them to discover that the world beyond Ape City is larger, and more populous, than they ever imagined. The miniseries also offers a novel, if simple, explanation for why the characters seemingly aren’t aware of these events just days later – their memories were altered by their new telepathic allies, in order to preserve the secret of their existence.

In some stories, this might seem like a creative cop-out, but in Beware it feels like a gamble that pays off. As Beware the Planet of the Apes #4 makes clear, while their conscious memories of their adventure were suppressed, the subconscious effect the miniseries’ events had on Zira and Cornelius was pivotal in influencing their behavior during the movie. In this way, Beware is a successful prequel, because its story proved to be essential to the plot of the 1968 film, without having to tamper with it in any way.

With Beware the Planet of the Apes, Marvel managed to give fans an engaging action-adventure story, while at the same time producing a prequel that was not devoid of stakes, nor of meaning. Rather, Beware successfully exhibited that the original Apes is ripe with potential, and that there are many stories left to be told in the original timeline. 1968’s Planet of the Apes established an evocative, lived-in world, and now Beware the Planet of the Apes has made the story of the initial film even more impactful, while promising there remains more to come.