| “ | WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY! | „ |
| ~ Proximus Caesar's most famous quote as he addresses his ape loyalists. |
| “ | In their time, humans were capable of many great things, yes? They could level mountains, they could speak across oceans. They could fly, Noa. Like eagles fly! But now... we will learn. Apes will learn. I will learn, from what is inside that vault. | „ |
| ~ Proximus Caesar explaining his ambitions to Noa. |
Proximus Caesar is the main antagonist of the 2024 science fiction action film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot film series.
He is the tyrannical king of the Coastal Ape Colony, a rogue clan of apes who supposedly follow the ways and teachings of the late Caesar. Gathering fanatically loyal guards who raid villages for new unwilling recruits, Proximus sets his eyes on unlocking the gate to a vault full of human knowledge and technology as a means of empowering his kingdom and uniting all clans under his rule through pure force.
He was voiced and motion-captured by Kevin Durand, who also played Martin Keamy in Lost.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Claiming to be an admirer and proxy of Caesar, he twisted his teachings for his gain, making it seem like he had known more about Caesar than anyone else.
- Gathering fanatically loyal apes, led by Sylva, he endorsed them into raiding villages, eliminating their leaders and rallying up many ape clans to amass and expand his own ape kingdom.
- He enslaved the captured apes, forcing them to work day after day on building more blockage for the dam and piling up as much fiery explosives on the gate to have it unlocked.
- At one point, he had his men raid a human settlement, killing most of the survivors, including Mae's mother.
- At another point, his guards attacked a village that Raka, one of the last of the elders who believed in Caesar's legacy, inhabited while killing several villagers.
- His guards would then eventually attack Noa's village, capturing his clan and killing his father during a fight between Sylva.
- He ordered his army to hunt down stray human survivors for sport and held them in captivity to elsewhere unknown or killed.
- He destroyed the Order of Caesar to ensure his monopoly on claims to Caesar's legacy while also preventing his hypocrisy and changes from being exposed.
- Discovering that the gate may hold human knowledge and technology over the other side, Proximus became dedicated to getting hold of it to add further power to his position and benefit.
- He had many of his apes try to unlock the gate through chains and dynamite, only for the attempt to be futile, resulting in several apes getting either killed or injured. According to Trevathan, they've been at it for months, implying he had dozens more sacrificed.
- Upon getting hold of remains of human technology, such as shock staffs, he had his guards use it as their primary attack weapon, further disgracing Caesar's legacy and what he stood for.
- Whilst Proximus found and spared an intelligent man named Trevathan during a raid, keeping him inside a comfortable prison and treating him relatively nicely, it was only so because he wants to learn about human technology and history of conquest to improve his schemes. By keeping Trevathan in relatively good conditions, Trevathan is more likely to cooperate and less likely to try escaping.
- To further this, Proximus mocks Noa for trusting Mae, a human, proving that his treatment of Trevathan is done for pragmatic reasons rather than true kindness.
- After Noa and Mae are captured, Proximus Caesar oversees their arrival and starts chanting his usual quota and encouraging his subjects (while twisting the meaning of the quote "Apes together strong"). Thereupon he has several of them attempt to open the gate once more with explosives piled on top, despite his effort to motive them, they all end up getting caught in the act as the chains breaks and either killed or injured them, to which Proximus implies he's going to have the apes try it again tomorrow.
- He torments Mae about her map leading to his kingdom, stating the vault already belongs to him and claiming to Noa that he has use for apes like himself, wishing to know how to get in the vault.
- When Noa responds that he doesn't know how since Mae never told him, he angrily lashed out at her before taking Noa to his open view.
- When Noa calls him out for having stolen clans, Proximus dismisses it as his kingdom.
- Claiming Mae has come to restore the dominant role for humanity, Proximus declares his intentions to Noa that he'll destroy the remaining humans before they go after him and his kingdom and put them in cages again.
- While he praises Noa for being a "useful ape", he later rebukes him for not understanding the concept of never trusting a human and has Lightning take Soona hostage.
- He forced Noa into choosing between a human or an ape to see what matters more as he prepares to have Soona killed depending on Noa's answer before provokingly daring him to tear him apart.
- After Lightning drops dead from being shot by Mae, instead of showing any form of anger or sadness, Proximus shows more interest in finding more guns inside the vault.
- During the flooding of the vault, he shoves two apes out of his way, one of those being Sylva (his own right-hand man). Though it could be argued he was just rushing to get to safety, his previous actions and behavior shows he wouldn't have cared if he put them in danger either way.
- He viciously beats Noa out of anger, believing Noa had destroyed his kingdom while angrily roaring at his subjects, backing them away as he continued beating Noa and they could do nothing but watch the brutality.
- He forces Noa to bow to him before he kills him, intending to throw him off the ledge; however, Noa rallies the other apes to turn against Proximus and they summon their eagles to attack Proximus, sending him falling off the ledge to his death.
- While his death was horrific, it's not played for sympathy and he deserved it for his actions, making it karmic and satisfactory.
- While the Planet of the Apes reboot film series has a relatively high Heinous Standard, he stands out for his unique crime of enslaving numerous apes while having his men raid and burn down their villages, giving him a large body count of hundreds, and he also has personal villainy towards Mae due to having her home destroyed and her mother killed without showing any shred of remorse for it, making him much worse than the likes of Koba, Colonel McCullough and Red.
External Links[]
- Proximus Caesar on the Villains Wiki
- Proximus Caesar on the Ultimate Evil Wiki
- Proximus Caesar on the Planet of the Apes Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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Apes Coastal Ape Colony | ||
