Mr. MacDonald (Planet of the Apes)

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Mr. MacDonald is the character name of two African-American brothers who appear in later installments of the Planet of the Apes movie series, as companions of Caesar. The first appears in the fourth Apes movie, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, played by actor Hari Rhodes, while the second appears in the fifth and final one, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and was played by Austin Stoker. Neither of their first names ever appeared in the dialogue or credits, and their characters are essentially similar.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In Conquest, Rhodes's MacDonald is the personal assistant to Governor Breck, and a descendant of slaves who ironically commands slave apes, including Caesar, who is planning an ape revolt. MacDonald doesn't believe Caesar is the descendant of talking apes Cornelius and Zira, or that Caesar is capable of speech – until Caesar admits otherwise.

First giving Caesar the chance to escape when the authorities are onto him, then sabotaging the electroshock table Caesar is placed on to force him to speak, MacDonald helps Caesar to launch his revolt – which turns into a night of fires and carnage, as apes around the city turn on their masters. He then takes Caesar on verbally at the movie's end, when Caesar wants to fully punish humanity for its treatment of apes.

In Battle (which takes place ten years after the events of Conquest), Stoker's younger-brother MacDonald is Caesar's human liaison and advisor, and speaks with his authority around Ape City, though he and the other humans otherwise have little authority over themselves, and mostly serve the apes. When Caesar wonders after his parents, and what they knew about right and wrong and the future, MacDonald suggests that old video recordings of Cornelius and Zira might have survived, under the wreckage of Central City (now called the Forbidden City, after it was destroyed in a nuclear war), with answers to some of his questions.

MacDonald and the orangutan Virgil journey with Caesar back to the Forbidden City, carrying a Geiger counter and small arms for protection. Discovering the intact (though dilapidated) archives, they scarcely have time to play back a short passage of the "Alien Visitors" (namely, Zira and Cornelius) tape before realising that they have also been discovered – by mutant human survivors of the war. The three barely escape with their lives, but Caesar now has some insight into who his parents were, and what they knew about future events.

Knowing that there are survivors under the city, who might someday want to wage war against them, Caesar prepares the apes to defend their city, but the head of the ape militia, General Aldo, doesn't allow the humans of Ape City to help, or defend themselves. When an attack does come, Aldo actually corrals the humans to keep them from getting involved. The mutants are beaten back, and MacDonald and the other humans are released – but they refuse to leave the corral, until their role in the city is redefined.

With both MacDonalds playing virtually the same role toward Caesar, how one came to be exchanged for the other is explained by Caesar's recalling how he saved the younger MacDonald when Central City was destroyed, as his older brother had saved Caesar from execution before the ape revolt. (Possibly Rhodes was unable to repeat his role, and this part of the storyline was added to explain the change in actors.)

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