Bad Ape

Bad Ape is an altered chimpanzee who appears in War for the Planet of the Apes. He lived in the Sierra Safari Zoo in Nevada before the Simian Flu outbreak and was one of the many apes that got more intelligent due to the virus. Bad Ape encountered Caesar's Colony and joined them having found more of his kind and having nowhere else to go.

Biography
Not much is known about Bad Ape other than he came from and lived in the Sierra Safari Zoo in Reno, Nevada, United States. Over the years, Bad Ape repeatedly heard and listened to his human handlers call him "Bad Ape" and as such, over time he began to firmly believe that "Bad Ape" was indeed his name.

Some time later when the Simian Flu first broke out, Bad Ape became infected along with the rest of his fellow apes. As a result, he and the other apes evolved and became incredibly intelligent. With his new-found intelligence, Bad Ape immediately realized that the humans were quickly becoming sick while he and the other apes got smarter. However as the humans got sicker and the apes got smarter, the humans began killing the apes. Terrified; Bad Ape managed to escape the zoo and fled into the wilderness. As time passed, Bad Ape learned to speak from remembering how he used to watch and listen the humans speak to him.

War for the Planet of the Apes
Bad Ape mistakes Caesar's group for humans upon seeing a human girl with them and steals one of their horse forcing them to chase him as he opens fire on them. Caesar's group soon corner him in an abandoned building where both sides learn the other are both apes. Bad Ape is excited to see more apes like him and has them stay over where he tells them of his origins as a zoo ape. He explains as the humans were getting sick, the apes were getting smarter and he learned how to speak by picking up from humans and he obtained the name Bad Ape due to being called that repeatedly.

Bad Ape then took Caesar and his friends to the Alpha-Omega base in the hope that he can find his sons. Bad Ape plays a huge part in rescuing the Caesar and his colony from the humans because he is small and can fit through small places. Bad ape mistakenly found the underground sewers that Maurice, Nova and Rocket could use to rescue the apes. Although he was reluctant to dig through to the surface until Maurice roared at him. After helping the apes escape from the base he survives both the battle and the avalanche and makes it to the apes new home. Bad Ape can be seen playing with Nova and other apes at the new home.

Personality
Not much is known about Bad Ape's personality at this moment other than he is a congenial and anxious yet friendly ape; if not a little bit crazy from (presumably) witnessing the deaths of his fellow apes and the constant years of isolation in the mountains. Upon meeting Caesar and his allies, Bad Ape was overjoyed and estactic to finally meet apes who were evolved like himself; happily stating "new friends" and sharing his food rations with them. Bad Ape often appears cowardly when faced with possible danger.

Trivia

 * Although the character's name is officially "Bad Ape", this not technically his name. "Bad Ape" is just the derogatory name that the humans gave him repeatedly thus over time he mistakenly began to believe that his name was actually indeed "Bad Ape".
 * In interviews, director Matt Reeves explained that introducing Bad Ape was meant to start widening the fictional world for future sequels, by establishing that there are other apes across the world beyond Caesar's colony who were mentally uplifted by the Simian Flu:
 * "Bad Ape is really...he’s critical to this story but he’s actually a seed that’s planted that sort of says that… that’s a widening up of the world. It’s not just Caesar’s apes, there are other apes elsewhere – and those apes haven’t had the benefit of Caesar’s leadership. And so who knows what they’re like, and they certainly wouldn’t necessarily have the level of empathy and integrity that he’s tried to instill in his family of apes. So future conflicts might not just be human and ape".


 * Reeves also pointed out that the apes in Rise and Dawn don't wear clothing, but the end point of the future ape society seen in the original Planet of the Apes movie does wear clothing, and Bad Ape is also supposed to be the start of a progression in this direction; to survive in a harsh winter he's the first ape we see who shifted to wearing heavy winter coats he scavenged.