Koba is a bonobo who spent years as a test subject in Gen-Sys labs. His body is covered in scars, one eye is blind, and he has never forgotten what humans did to him. When Caesar frees the apes, Koba becomes one of the group's most loyal and most violent followers.
In the Gen-Sys labs, Koba is one of the apes used for testing. When Will Rodman's team tests the new formula, ALZ-113, in gas form, technician Robert Franklin is accidentally exposed and falls ill. Company head Steven Jacobs orders the trials to go on anyway, and Will quits.
When Caesar and the shelter apes storm Gen-Sys, Koba is set free and starts following Caesar.
In the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge, Jacobs' helicopter goes down and ends up dangling over the edge. Caesar looks at the man and walks away. Koba comes later, Jacobs begs for help and calls him a stupid monkey. Koba pushes the helicopter into the bay. It's his first revenge on the man who tortured him.
Ten years later, Koba lives in Caesar's community and treats him like a brother. When humans show up again, he opposes any deal and points to his scars as proof: human work. On his own, he finds the humans' armory in San Francisco.
When two guards catch him near the weapons, Koba plays a dumb circus ape, clowns around, grabs their bottle and then kills them with a rifle. He challenges Caesar in public, takes a beating and is spared, because ape not kill ape.
The night the dam comes back on, Koba shoots Caesar and sets the village on fire, letting everyone believe the humans did it. He takes over and leads the apes on horseback, armed, against the human colony in San Francisco. He kills Ash, who refuses to kill a human, and locks up the apes loyal to Caesar.
Caesar comes back alive and the two fight at the top of an unfinished tower while the humans blow up the structure. Hanging from the edge, Koba reminds Caesar that ape not kill ape. Caesar answers that Koba is not ape and lets him fall.
Two years later, some of the apes who followed Koba work for the Colonel's soldiers. The humans call them donkeys and use them as porters and trackers.
Koba himself comes back as a vision. During Caesar's quest for revenge, he shows up in dreams and reflections, reminding Caesar that his hatred now matches Koba's. Caesar spends the film trying not to become what he condemned on that tower.
In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Koba was played by Christopher Gordon; Toby Kebbell took over in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, through performance capture. Koba was also one of Stalin's nicknames as a young man.
Original text by Sagaticket. Posters: The Movie Database (TMDB); character photos via Wikipedia. This site uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB. All trademarks and titles mentioned belong to their respective owners. Streaming availability may change.
