Rocket

"I follow Caesar."

- Rocket's response to Koba

Rocket is an altered chimpanzee who was the Alpha at the San Bruno Primate Shelter before and during Caesar's time at the shelter. He was a typical bully until Caesar outsmarted him and took his place as Alpha. Settling their differences aside, the two became the most unlikely of allies. During the Ape Rebellion, Caesar tasks Rocket as one of his head lieutenants. After ten years, the two are still best friends and Rocket is still one of Caesar's closest companions. He is a member of the Ape Council and Caesar's second-in-command in the Ape Army. He is also the husband of Tinker, and the father of the late Ash.

Bullying Caesar
Rocket was the dominant male at the San Bruno Primate Shelter which is where the newcomer Chimpanzee Caesar is forced to live after he attacks his next door neighbor Douglas Hunsiker. In Caesar's early days at the shelter, Rocket treated him harshly and quickly established dominance over him even when Caesar attempted to be friendly with the arrogant alpha. Their encounter ended with both being tranquilized by Dodge Landon. After this, Rocket continued to be a bully to Caesar, never showing him any mercy or pity as time went on.

Being Overthrown
This treatment doesn't last very long, as tired of being picked on, Caesar decided to use his above average intelligence to outsmart the alpha and planned to take his place. Caesar lured Rocket into the play den and hit him with a metal gasoline canister but did no more to harm to him, clearly establishing he was the rightful alpha. Rocket was somewhat reluctant to step down when seeing his followers watching, but was forced to acknowledge Caesar as his successor thanks to the recently released inmate, Buck the gorilla, whose very presence terrified Rocket into submitting to Caesar. Now without power, Rocket slowly began to sulk in his cell as the newcomer Caesar took power and was seen as the new alpha of the shelter.

New Respect
Caesar would then make peace with Rocket by giving him a bag of stolen cookies and instructing him to share them with the other apes as a way to bring the apes together. This act made Rocket realize that there was nothing to gain from being cruel for no reason, and caused him to find newfound respect for Caesar, acknowledging him as the true alpha of the shelter.

Liberation
When Caesar unleashes the ALZ-113 virus on the sleeping apes, Rocket becomes infected and gains a higher boost of intelligence. Caesar then turned against the shelter's tormentor Dodge Landon and began to open many of the apes' cells to release his brethren, before stopping at Rocket's. A tense moment is born, until Caesar decides to free Rocket who would then point out the remaining caretaker Rodney who was being beaten by the freed apes until they were stopped by Caesar. Rocket would become one of Caesar's loyal companions and would escape from the San Bruno Primate Shelter with Caesar and the others as they head for the outskirts of the city. Caesar divides his forces into groups with Rocket accompanying Caesar and Maurice's forces to Gen Sys Labs, while Buck and his forces are ordered to free the apes at the San Francisco Zoo to add more numbers to their people's cause. He later aids Caesar by finding a trolley which the ape army used to travel to the Golden Gate Bridge their next target.

Battle At Golden Gate Bridge
On the bridge, the apes terrorize the area, forcing many of the people to run for their lives. The police then send in officers on horseback to lead the apes to the other side of the bridge where to large group officers are in wait planning to massacre the apes. This was anticipated by Caesar, who had his army halt. Caesar then commanded the new recruit Koba to take a group of chimpanzees go up the high wires of the bridge and attack from above, as Maurice and his new orangutan forces take the bridge from underneath. Rocket and the rest of the chimpanzees were chosen by Caesar to help launch a direct attack on the police officers. He was shown standing by Caesar's side while he waited for the Caesar to unleash the attack. Caesar then ordered Buck and his new gorilla forces to push a school bus in the range of police bullets until they ran out. Riding on a police horse, Caesar gave his army the command to attack which led to a fearsome battle between man and ape. Rocket joined his fellow apes in battle taking down many police officers and watching as the rest were forced to retreat.

Freedom At Last
The next time, Rocket is seen in the forest with Maurice (and possibly Cornelia) when Caesar is saying his final goodbyes to his adoptive human father, Will. Rocket and the other apes moved out of Caesar's way as he walked to his favorite tree. The apes soon started to stand upright like Caesar, signifying they now saw him as their leader. Rocket joined Caesar and Maurice on an adjacent tree and the trio looked over the destruction they put the city through.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm
Rocket is first seen when he spots a helicopter hovering above the trees. Caesar commands him to find him six apes and to report back to him. He soon returns with three orangutans, two chimpanzees, and Koba the bonobo. Later in the book, he excitedly reports to Caesar and shows him and his small band of apes a pile of food that he and his own band had found. Caesar sees skins from some of the fruit on the ground and questions Rocket. He sheepishly tells him that he and his band had eaten some of the food. Caesar, suspicious of this mysterious pile of food, has Koba inspect only to find a camera and several other devices.

More coming soon!

Time of Peace
After ten years of living in peace in the Muir Woods Park, Rocket has helped his people build a thriving village where he has become a prominent figure among his fellow apes. His friendship with Caesar grown to the point that they view each other as honorary brothers. Rocket is permitted to be apart of the Ape Council, and has retained his position as the second-in-command of the Ape Army. At some point, he met and married a chimpanzee named Tinker. The two would later go on to have a son named Ash, who would later in life become a soldier in the Ape Army and best friends with Caesar's son Blue Eyes (the prince of the Ape Colony).

His Son's Accident
Rocket is first seen during the hunting expedition, and is seen again in the forest later on when his son Ash is shot in the shoulder while out on a fishing trip with Blue Eyes. Forever protective over his son, Rocket is visibly shaken by this attack and looks as if he might attack the humans only for Caesar to tell him to calm down. After the humans put their guns away, Caesar and the others yell at them to leave the forest before having koba and his group follow them into the city. Later at night, during a council meeting, Rocket argues with Koba over what should be done about the attack on Ash. Rocket angrily tells him that he follows Caesar's orders and that he will follow whatever Caesar wants to do.

Ape' Threat
The next day, Rocket accompanies Caesar and the army out into the ruined city of San Francisco where Caesar personally threatens the humans with war if they enter the apes' territory again. With the message being given, the apes leave the city after returning the satchel of the teenager Alexander.

A Truce
After the truce is made between Caesar and Malcolm, Rocket confiscates the human's guns and smashes them to pieces with a rock passionately, so that the weapons cannot be used against the apes or his son again. Rocket is present on horseback when Caesar leads the army his friends and sons to meet up with Malcolm at the dam. Rocket listens to Caesar and Maurice's conversation about Koba, who hasn't accompanied them because Maurice believes he was still angry about Caesar letting the humans into the village, and decided to go out hunting. Rocket then helps the other apes in saving Malcolm and his friends after they were trapped in debris by an explosion. He would later watch as Caesar and Koba have an argument which ends with the Ape King nearly beating the bonobo to death before stopping himself and forgiving him of his actions.

Koba's Usurpation
When Caesar and Blue Eyes are summoned by Cornelia's midwives, Rocket sits guard over the Ape Queen while Caesar, Blue Eyes and the baby sit nearby, devastated over the thought of losing Cornelia. He watches as Caesar speaks with and gives the humans one more day on the dam telling them the apes will help. When Koba arrives at the Dam and angrily confronts Caesar, Rocket watches as Caesar proceeds to thrash the bonobo before stopping himself and forgiving Koba. Later on, at night as power restored back in San Francisco he celebrates with the apes and humans until a gunshot is heard and Caesar falls from his home. Rocket then sees the Village go up in flames and watches as Koba takes power (after secretly shooting Caesar) and blames the humans for Caesar's death. Koba then leads the Ape Army in an attack on the San Francisco Human Hideout it is unknown where Rocket went while the other apes followed the deranged bonobo orders in his plan of "vengeance".

Imprisonment
He is later seen chained on a bus next to the human cages along with Maurice, Luca and many others because of their loyalty remaining to Caesar but he is later freed by Blue Eyes who then takes them to the old Rodman House where a still living Caesar is hiding out with Malcolm, Ellie and Alexander.

Caesar's Command
Rocket is present when Caesar fights with Koba. Later on, he and the others aid those caught in an explosion caused by Dreyfus. He and Blue Eyes would tend to a wounded Maurice (who had been shot by Koba) and watches as Caesar sends the bonobo falling to his death, silently nodding at his friend. After Koba's defeat and death, Rocket and the surviving apes cheer on Caesar before they leave and reunite with the females and young. Rocket is then seen kneeling before Caesar with the other apes as they await the impending war with the humans.

Havoc on the Planet of the Apes
Coming soon!

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
At first, Rocket was an arrogant and ruthless thug who harassed and traumatized Caesar in order to show dominance over him. He enjoyed power and showed immense pride in being in charge. After being overthrown by Caesar, Rocket became a worthwhile ally and his sense of pride diminished. Because Caesar's takeover of what would become the ape colony, Rocket realized there was more to power than originally thought and that there was no need to be brutal and cruel to be a great leader.

As shown in the first film, Rocket was not very bright; this was proven to be true when Caesar easily lured him out of his cage and into a trap. However, after he was exposed to the ALZ-113, Rocket becomes intelligent and struggled with the change.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Over the last decade, he evolved greatly from the arrogant and ruthless thug he once was as he shows a strong loyalty only to Caesar and isn't afraid to express it. Rocket is now recognized for his strength and intelligence, which has allowed him to be a great mentor to the colony's younger generation of apes.

As a father, Rocket would do anything to keep his son from harm, as shown where he stood in the way of his son when discovering the humans injured his son and looked tempted to attack them for it. Due to his friendship with Caesar, Rocket takes his protective nature to a whole level and takes it upon himself to protect Blue Eyes, Caesar's eldest son, from the wrath of ape-hating human Carver.

Havoc on the Planet of the Apes
Coming soon!

Trivia

 * Rocket is due to return in Dawn and will be played once again by Terry Notary.
 * Rocket is Caesar's second-in-command but struggles with being intelligent.
 * Rocket has a son named Ash.
 * It is currently unknown who the mother of Ash is.
 * in the latest TV Spot it appears that Rocket along with Maurice are captured and put in a cage.
 * In the DotPotA movie, Rocket never verbally speaks. In the novelization, he does once.
 * Rocket, Maurice, Luca, and other apes who are loyal to Caesar and refuse to kill unarmed humans were caged and held prisoner by Koba.