Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes May Feature A Familiar Weapon (SPOILER: It's Bad)

A new era of the "Planet of the Apes" franchise is about to begin. The series is finally set to move past its Andy Serkis-led Caesar trilogy with its next installment, "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes." The forthcoming sequel, which is set to hit theaters next year, will be the first "Planet of the Apes" film since 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" not directed by "The Batman" filmmaker Matt Reeves and will introduce an entirely new cast of characters.

The recent "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" trailer doesn't offer many concrete details about the film's plot, but it does give fans a strong sense of its tone and look, as well as the scope of its story. At one point, the trailer even features footage of several of the film's ape characters exploring a mysterious underground facility. Unfortunately, it hasn't yet been officially confirmed what kind of technology or weaponry is hidden within the location in question.

That doesn't mean fans can't speculate about what the film's characters will find within the facility's darkened depths, though. With that in mind, it's worth noting that the underground structure looks like it could very well be a missile launch silo. If that's the case, then it's possible what's hidden within the facility is a version of the Alpha-Omega Bomb from 1970's "Beneath the Planet of the Apes." That would allow "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" to not only connect to its franchise's pre-reboot films but also 2017's "War for the Planet of the Apes," which features a paramilitary force known as "Alpha-Omega" that's led by Woody Harrelson's villainous, fanatical Colonel.

"Beneath the Planet of the Apes" introduces a cult of telepathic mutant humans who worship the Alpha-Omega bomb as a deity and refer to it as the "Divine Bomb." It's eventually revealed that the weapon itself was not only created by human scientists sometime in the late 20th century but that it was also designed to be powerful enough to completely destroy Earth. That's exactly what happens, too, when the bomb is detonated at the end of the film. Taking that into account, along with the fact that its predecessor features a military group literally known as Alpha-Omega, it doesn't seem out of the question that "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" could feature its own version of the Divine Bomb.

Notably, the new film's first trailer confirms many of the details included in a plot synopsis that was posted online last year by Hollywood insider Daniel Richtman. In that plot summary, Richtman alleged that the forthcoming sequel will introduce a villainous new ape king named Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who has discovered the "last vestiges of human technology" hidden beneath the earth. Whether or not the "technology" that Proximus seeks to recover really is a new take on the Alpha-Omega Bomb remains to be seen.

That said, it'd certainly make sense for it to be a nuclear weapon of some kind. After all, not only does the underground location featured in the "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" trailer look a whole lot like a missile silo, but a nuclear bomb would also make it nearly impossible for any other human or ape to challenge Proximus' power.