Caesar is a fictional character in the Planet of the Apes franchise. He is the leader of the apes in both the original and reboot series. Caesar is portrayed by Roddy McDowall in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973); his likeness is reprised in the comic series Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes (2016). Andy Serkis portrayed the character in the reboot series, consisting of Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).
Caesar is an evolved chimpanzee who is the leader of the ape army, the king of the ape colony, and the patriarch of the royal ape family. In the original series, Caesar is the biological son of Cornelius and Zira, the foster son of Armando, the husband of Lisa, and the father of Cornelius II. In the comic series, Caesar was raised by Cornelius and Zira, along with a human adoptive brother, Tarzan.
In the rebooted series, Caesar is instead the son of Alpha and Bright Eyes, two normal apes, the latter of which was experimented on in an effort to cure Alzheimer's, with the intelligence gained passed on to Caesar. Caesar is raised by Will Rodman, the scientist in charge of the experiment, and his girlfriend Caroline Aranha after the death of his mother, but is forced to live in captivity at the San Bruno Primate Shelter after attacking a neighbor.
Caesar later leads his fellow apes in a rebellion against abusive handlers and the police by unleashing the deadly ALZ-113 virus, which is dangerous to the human population but not the apes. Caesar maintains dominance over his community of intelligent apes while also having to deal with the threat of war against human survivors, who had been pushed to near-extinction due to a pandemic known as the Simian Flu, originating from the ALZ-113 virus.[1]
Serkis' performance as Caesar in the rebooted series garnered mass acclaim, with many saying Serkis deserved to be nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.
