Since the release of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, fans have been wondering what happened to Cornelius (Devyn Dalton). He was one of the main characters in War for the Planet of the Apes, the third entry in the reboot franchise. Despite numerous threats to his life, he is shown to be alive at the end of the 2017 movie.
Here is everything we know about Cornelius and what happened to him in the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Who is Cornelius and is he the main ape in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?
Cornelius is the youngest son of Caesar (Andy Serkis), the leader of the evolved apes. In War for the Planet of the Apes, The Colonel (Woody Harrelson), the primary antagonist of the film, kills Caesar’s wife Cornelia and his eldest son, Blue Eyes. Cornelius survives the attack but is not the protagonist of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
In War for the Planet of the Apes, it was revealed that the Simian Flu, which caused the fall of humanity and the rise of the apes, underwent a significant mutation. It began to take away human beings’ capacity for higher thinking, effectively turning them into animals. In one of the last bitter struggles between humans and apes, Caesar was fatally wounded. Upon his passing, his advisor Maurice (Karin Konoval) promises him that he will tell Cornelius about his father and the impact he had on the lives of the apes.
The main narrative of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set centuries after the third film. So, Cornelius is understandably not the leading ape in the story. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes revolves around Noa (Owen Teague), an evolved chimpanzee from the Eagle Clan. He sets out to rescue his clan from the clutches of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a ruthless bonobo despot.
What happened to Cornelius in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?
Caesar’s funeral takes place in the prologue of the film before the time skip. Fans can presume that Cornelius, as his father’s only heir, inherited some of his father’s authority and standing in the ape tribe after Ceasar’s death. Maurice also would have been there to advise him for several years and impart his father’s teachings to him.
But he would have eventually died with time as the film takes place close to 300 years after his father’s death. However, the exact reason behind Cornelius’ death remains a mystery.
