Planet Of The Apes Books
original novel
Planet of the Apes – 1963
French journalist Ulysse Mérou travels to a distant planet where intelligent apes rule a sophisticated society and primitive humans are mute beasts hunted for sport. Captured and studied like an animal, he struggles to prove his intelligence while uncovering the shocking truth about humanity's fall and the apes' rise to dominance.
Modern Original Tie-Ins
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm – 2014
In the violent months after the Simian Flu outbreak, Caesar’s ape colony hides in Muir Woods while San Francisco descends into chaos. As human survivors hunt them and internal tensions rise, the scarred gorilla Koba’s growing hatred of mankind threatens to ignite open war, forcing Caesar to defend his vision of peaceful coexistence amid betrayal and escalating violence.
Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone – 2017
Sixteen original short stories by Kevin J. Anderson, Nancy Collins, Jonathan Maberry, Greg Cox, and others explore untold corners of the Planet of the Apes universe. Spanning the original film series and TV era, the anthology reveals hidden ape customs, human resistance, mutant mysteries, forbidden histories, and personal dramas in a world ruled by simians.
Death of the Planet of the Apes – 2018
Filling the gap in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Taylor explores the Forbidden Zone after his disappearance, encountering bomb-worshipping mutants underground while General Ursus launches a gorilla assault above. Intercut with chimp scientist Milo’s desperate attempts to rebuild a spacecraft, the story races toward revelations about Earth’s destruction and the apes’ inevitable rise.
Graphic Novels
Modern Era
Planet of the Apes, Vol. 1: The Long War – 2011
Set centuries before the original film in a time of uneasy peace between intelligent apes and subjugated humans, the assassination of the revered Lawgiver by a human using forbidden ancient weapons sparks outrage. Tensions explode as ape leaders demand justice, humans face suspicion and reprisals, and political intrigue threatens to ignite a devastating war that reshapes their fragile coexistence.
Planet of the Apes, Vol. 2: The Devil's Pawn – 2012
War erupts between apes and humans after the Lawgiver's murder. Ambitious ape figures manipulate events for power while human rebels, armed with hidden technology, fight back desperately. Ancient weapons resurface, alliances fracture, and brutal tactics escalate the conflict, pushing both species toward irreversible division and revealing deeper betrayals within ape society.
Planet of the Apes, Vol. 3: Children of Fire – 2013
As ape forces crush human resistance and herd survivors into camps, the war rages with tanks and flames engulfing cities. Desperate human leaders make risky moves for freedom while ape factions clash internally. A mysterious turn of events deep underground forces sisters into conflict, deciding whether humanity can escape extinction or face total subjugation.
Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm Vol. 1 – 2013
Eight years before Taylor's arrival, a rogue Alpha-Omega bomb on the moon detonates, raining destruction on Earth and shattering ape civilization's peace. Doctor Zaius races to contain the chaos amid floods, famine, and societal collapse, while a mad monk's scheme threatens to awaken further ancient horrors in a desperate struggle to rebuild.
Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm Vol. 2 – 2013
Devastation from the cataclysm leaves Ape City starving and fractured. Doctor Zaius ventures into dangerous ruins with Cornelius and others to uncover lost knowledge and stabilize the crumbling coalition of apes. Ancient secrets emerge from beneath the wreckage, intensifying threats as rebuilding efforts falter amid starvation and hidden dangers.
Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm Vol. 3 – 2013
Doctor Zaius fights to preserve fragile unity among apes, chimps, and orangutans after the cataclysm. A enigmatic human woman gains followers from both species, challenging established order and sparking potential treachery. Zaius must navigate betrayal and unrest to prevent greater disaster in a world still reeling from cosmic fallout.
Planet of the Apes: When Worlds Collide – 2018
An anthology celebrating the franchise's 50th anniversary with all-new tales bridging original and modern series canons. Stories explore untold moments, including the ape inhabiting the ruined Statue of Liberty and the aftermath of War for the Planet of the Apes, examining clashes between worlds, morality, and legacies across timelines.
Planet of the Apes: Ursus – 2018
General Ursus, brutal gorilla commander, faces a talking human astronaut who crashes into Ape City. While Doctor Zaius calls for study, Ursus demands execution. Flashbacks reveal his childhood trauma from human cruelty, fueling his deep hatred and rise to power amid council debates and growing Forbidden Zone dangers.
Planet of the Apes: Visionaries – 2018
An alternate adaptation of Rod Serling’s original script: astronaut Thomas lands in a sleek, modern Ape City of advanced, civilized simians. The story satirizes 1960s society through sophisticated ape culture, human enslavement, and philosophical clashes, diverging sharply from the familiar primitive ape world of the 1968 film.
Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes – 2017
Tarzan and Caesar grow up as adoptive brothers in the jungle until human slavers and ape traders tear them apart. Decades later, time anomalies and colonial forces draw them into conflict. The lord of the apes battles the rising simian leader in a savage crossover filled with loyalty, betrayal, and prehistoric threats.
Planet of the Apes: Fall of Man – 2023
After the Simian Flu ravages humanity, intelligent apes spread across continents while humans fracture into desperate factions. Scientist Juliana Tobon fights genocidal extremists bent on ape extermination. The graphic novel questions survival and morality as simian societies grow stronger amid cruelty, bloodshed, and the irreversible shift toward ape dominance.
Beware the Planet of the Apes – 2024
Prequel to the 1968 film: chimp scientists Cornelius and Zira value mute humans. When their nephew Lucius disappears, they team with a young human woman (future Nova) to search the Forbidden Zone. The journey uncovers hidden violence, challenges simian superiority, and tests fragile empathy in a gorilla-ruled world.
Planet of the Apes vs. Fantastic Four Vol.1 – 2026
The Fantastic Four crash-land on the ape-ruled planet, meeting Cornelius, Zira, Ursus, and Zaius. Stranded heroes clash with rising tensions in Ape City while opportunistic Marvel villains invade, sparking massive battles. Superhuman powers collide with simian armies in the franchise’s first Marvel crossover event.
Planet of the Apes vs. Fantastic Four Vol.2 – 2026
The epic crossover continues: Fantastic Four forge uneasy alliances with Ape City leaders while facing invading Marvel threats. Intense battles rage across the simian landscape, blending cosmic science, ape politics, and desperate survival. The clash determines the fate of both worlds in a high-stakes Marvel–Planet of the Apes showdown.
Reboot Era Tie-Ins
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Contagion – 2014
A one-shot bridging Rise and Dawn, focusing on human scientist Ellie during the Simian Flu pandemic. As society collapses around San Francisco, she witnesses chaos, loss, and the virus’s rapid devastation before intelligent apes fully step into the spotlight of the emerging new world order.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 2014
Between Rise and Dawn, Caesar expands his ape community in Muir Woods while human survivors cling to San Francisco. Internal ape factions, including aggressive Koba and Pope, push for war. The series parallels human desperation with growing simian strength, building toward the fragile truce and inevitable conflict.
War for the Planet of the Apes – 2017
Prequel to War for the Planet of the Apes: Caesar’s apes rebuild in ruined San Francisco after Koba’s betrayal. Advancing military forces, mutated virus outbreaks, and desperate survivors heighten threats. The story traces Caesar’s burdens, new allies like Bad Ape, and the escalating march toward total war between species.
Classic Adaptations & Reprints
Beneath the Planet of the Apes – 1970
Astronaut Brent searches for Taylor on the ape planet and uncovers telepathic mutant humans hiding beneath ruined New York, worshipping an atomic bomb. Captured by both apes and mutants, he reunites with Taylor in a frantic effort to stop General Ursus’s gorilla army from detonating the doomsday device and ending all life.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes – 1971
Chimps Cornelius, Zira, and Milo time-travel to 1970s Earth, arriving as celebrities. Their intelligence and warnings of humanity’s future downfall spark fear. Public opinion turns hostile, leading to pursuit, capture, and heartbreak over their unborn child in a tragic tale of prejudice and doomed hope.
Planet of the Apes Adventures: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus – 2023
Collecting Marvel's 1970s color comics, this omnibus adapts Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Astronauts crash on an ape-ruled world where mute humans are slaves. Taylor battles to escape captivity, retain his humanity, and uncover shocking secrets—including subterranean mutants and a doomsday bomb—threatening planetary extinction.
Planet of the Apes – 2001
Tied to Tim Burton’s remake, astronaut Leo Davidson crashes on ape-ruled Ashlar. Enslaved and forced into combat, he allies with chimp activist Ari and human rebels against General Thade’s tyranny. The miniseries expands the film with deeper ape politics, rebellion, and time-warped secrets.
Planet of the Apes Archive Vol. 1: Terror on the Planet of the Apes – 2017
Reprinting 1970s Marvel tales, this volume features “Terror on the Planet of the Apes.” Virdon, Burke, and Galen venture into the Forbidden Zone, confronting horrifying creatures, relentless gorilla hunters, and ancient perils that challenge their survival and alliances in the hostile simian-dominated future.
Planet of the Apes Archive Vol. 2: Beast on the Planet of the Apes – 2017
Collecting more 1970s Marvel strips, including “Beast on the Planet of the Apes,” Virdon, Burke, and Galen encounter savage wild animals, secretive human survivors, and ruthless ape overlords. The stories delve into untamed wilderness dangers, ruined civilizations, and escalating clashes threatening their quest for freedom.
Planet of the Apes Archive Vol. 3: Quest for the Planet of the Apes – 2018
Reprinting 1970s Marvel material, this includes the bridging story “Quest for the Planet of the Apes” between Conquest and Battle, screenplay adaptations of Escape and Conquest, plus original tales like Derek Zane’s adventures on an island of apes and “Beast on the Planet of the Apes,” exploring time anomalies, post-conquest strife, and survival against simian threats.
Planet of the Apes Archive Vol. 4: Evolution's Nightmare – 2018
Collecting final 1970s Marvel strips, featuring the Battle for the Planet of the Apes screenplay adaptation and inventive originals. The standout “Evolution’s Nightmare” poignantly depicts early man-ape wars, highlighting prejudice, evolutionary tragedy, and brutal conflict in a divided world shaped by fear and misunderstanding.
Boom! Omnibus Collections
Planet of the Apes Omnibus – 2017
Gathering Boom! Studios’ 2010s main series: Daryl Gregory’s The Long War trilogy (centuries before 1968) shows fragile ape-human peace shattered by the Lawgiver’s assassination, sparking war; plus Cataclysm prequels detail moon explosion devastation, floods, famine, and Doctor Zaius’s desperate struggle to preserve crumbling ape society.
Planet of the Apes: Before the Fall – 2019
Omnibus of Boom! prequels to the original film. Twenty years before Taylor arrives, ape castes fracture under conspiracies and rigid laws. General Aleron uncovers betrayal while Cataclysm depicts cosmic fallout causing chaos. Idealist Zaius hardens into a pragmatic leader amid threats to simian order and human subjugation.
Planet of the Apes: After the Fall – 2019
Boom! omnibus set 1300 years before the films. Apes and humans share a golden age of coexistence until the beloved Lawgiver is assassinated by a mysterious killer. A human detective races to solve the murder as tensions ignite across both societies, threatening to plunge their world into irreversible war and division.
Novelization omnibuses
Planet of the Apes Omnibus 1 – 2017
Reprints Beneath the Planet of the Apes, where astronaut Brent finds mutant humans worshipping an atomic bomb in ruined New York and apes prepare for holy war, ending in mutual annihilation; and Escape from the Planet of the Apes, as Cornelius, Zira, and Milo arrive in 1970s Earth, facing celebrity that turns to fear and deadly pursuit.
Planet of the Apes Omnibus 2 – 2017
Collects Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, in which intelligent ape Caesar leads a slave revolt against cruel human masters in a dystopian future, seizing power in flames; and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, where Caesar’s peaceful ape–human village faces betrayal, gorilla warmongers, and human raiders in a final battle that shapes their shared fate.
Planet of the Apes Omnibus 3 – 2017
Compiles novelizations of four 1974 TV series episodes: Man the Fugitive, Escape to Tomorrow, Journey Into Terror, and Lord of the Apes. Astronauts Virdon and Burke, aided by chimp Galen, evade gorilla patrols across a simian world, encountering human holdouts, dangerous ruins, and ape tyrants while searching for a path to change humanity’s doomed destiny.
Planet of the Apes Omnibus 4 - 2018
Gathers novelizations of three 1975 animated series episodes: Visions from Nowhere, Escape from Terror Lagoon, and Man, the Hunted Animal. Crashed astronauts Hudson, Allen, and Franklin navigate an ape-ruled Earth filled with hallucinations, gorilla armies, and chimp allies Cornelius and Zira, desperately repairing their ship while evading capture as humans are treated as prey.
Novelizations
Beneath the Planet of the Apes – 1970
Astronaut Brent searches for Taylor on the ape planet and discovers telepathic mutant humans living underground amid the ruins of New York, worshipping a doomsday bomb. Captured by both apes and mutants, he reunites with Taylor in a desperate bid to stop fanatical gorillas from triggering nuclear apocalypse.
Escape from the Planet of the Apes – 1971
Cornelius, Zira and Milo escape their dying world through time, arriving in 1970s Earth. Initially celebrities, the talking apes face fear and prejudice as humans learn of their future enslavement of mankind. Public hysteria grows, forcing the apes into hiding and leading to a tragic confrontation over their unborn child.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes – 1972
In a future where apes are enslaved after a pet plague, Caesar—son of Cornelius and Zira—hides his ability to speak. Witnessing cruelty and oppression, he organizes a secret rebellion. When discovered, he unleashes a violent uprising that overthrows human rule and establishes ape supremacy in a burning city.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes – 1973
Caesar governs a fragile ape–human community years after the conquest. Haunted by visions of nuclear ruin, he struggles against warmongering gorillas and vengeful humans. A raid and betrayal shatter the peace, forcing a climactic battle that determines whether apes and humans can coexist or face mutual destruction.
Planet of the Apes – 2001
Astronaut Leo Davidson crash-lands on a planet ruled by advanced apes who treat primitive humans as slaves. Captured and forced into gladiatorial combat, he allies with compassionate chimp Ari and human rebels to challenge ruthless General Thade, sparking rebellion and uncovering secrets that twist time itself.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 2014
A decade after the Simian Flu wipes out most humans, Caesar leads a thriving ape colony in the woods. When desperate survivors need hydroelectric power from the apes' territory, a tentative alliance forms with engineer Malcolm. Mutual distrust, betrayal and buried hatred soon erupt into open war.
War for the Planet of the Apes – 2017
Caesar's apes endure relentless attacks from a fanatical human Colonel obsessed with eradicating them. After betrayal and massacre, Caesar pursues vengeance across a frozen landscape. Captured and escaping a brutal prison camp, he guides his people toward a distant sanctuary in a final, defining conflict between the species.