: In Ape City, the gorilla General Ursus calls for a holy war to invade the Forbidden Zone and seize it as a food source, despite the warnings of the orangutan Dr. Zaius.
: Astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and his mute companion Nova are traveling through the Forbidden Zone when Taylor mysteriously vanishes into a solid rock wall after witnessing bizarre illusions.
: A second spacecraft crash-lands on Earth in the year 3955. The sole survivor, Brent (James Franciscus), was sent on a rescue mission to find Taylor. He encounters Nova, who is wearing Taylor's dog tags, and they travel to Ape City together. Key Plot Developments subtitle Beneath the Planet of the Apes
: While fleeing the apes, Brent and Nova discover the ruins of the New York City subway system. This confirms to Brent that he is on a future Earth.
In the 1970 sequel , the story picks up immediately after the original film's shocking discovery that the "alien" world is actually a post-apocalyptic Earth. The narrative follows two converging paths: : In Ape City, the gorilla General Ursus
: Deep underground, they find a society of telepathic human mutants who survived the nuclear holocaust generations earlier. These mutants are horribly scarred and hide their disfigured faces under lifelike masks. They worship a massive, cobalt-cased nuclear weapon they call the "Divine Bomb". The Climax
: The gorilla army invades the underground cathedral. In the chaos, Nova is killed, and both Taylor and Brent are mortally wounded by the apes. : A second spacecraft crash-lands on Earth in the year 3955
The film ends with a stark narration stating that the planet Earth is now dead.