Colonel McCullough

"All of human history has lead to this moment. The irony is we created you. And nature has been punishing us ever since. This is our last stand. And if we lose... it will be a Planet of Apes."

- Colonel most famous Speech "There are times when it is necessary to abandon our humanity to save humanity."

- Colonel to his army Colonel McCullough is the main antagonist of the 2017 film War for the Planet of the Apes.

He is the leader of the Human Military Arm Alpha-Omega (a rogue military force) and is an iron-fisted colonel obsessed with wiping out Caesar and his tribe to defend his people from destruction and save humanity by any means necessary. He is Caesar's new arch-nemesis after Koba's death.

He was portrayed by Woody Harrelson who played Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers.

Personality
The Colonel is very brutal and aggressive, he has an extreme rivalry against the apes. He thinks that the apes are destroying the world, and wants to kill every single one of them, his hate comes very naturally against his enemies, while he is extremely cruel and heartless, he does have a small side of good, where he actually sees the apes as worthy enemies and what he does is necessary for the human race, which is partially true, but it also shows that he is delusional, thinking his actions are justified purely for that reason.

He is also very intelligent and merciless.

War for the Planet of the Apes
The Colonel is first seen after his soldier, Preacher tells him he is unable to stop all the apes after an attack goes awry. The Colonel later comes to the ape village himself, rappelling from a waterfall with several other soldiers. While his soldiers are killed, Colonel manages to kill Cornelia and Blue-Eyes, thinking Blue-Eyes was Caesar.

The Colonel tells his soldiers that he killed Caesar, when actually he killed Blue-Eyes, claiming "King Kong is down". Caesar hears this and realizes what is happening. He returns to his family, only to find out his oldest son and wife are now dead. Colonel is near the waterfall, preparing to flee the scene on the cables they descended with. However, he turns and notices Caesar, who isn't really happy and is very enraged at the death of his family.

Caesar attacks Colonel, grabbing the cable as the Colonel ascends the waterfall. The two start briefly fighting, before the Colonel cuts the cable, sending Caesar back down into the water.

A while after, Caesar comes across some dead apes tied to large "x" shaped posts in the mountains, near the abandoned weapons depot that the Colonel and his soldiers operate out of. Caesar is noticed and captured and is brought to the depot, where Colonel talks to him and is amazed at how human-like Caesar is. He orders Caesar to be put to work, building a large wall, like all the other apes.

Colonel watches the apes work, and orders rogue gorilla, Red, a former follower of Koba, to whip an orangutan who failed at his task. The Colonel watches as Red savagely attacks the orangutan and continues to watch as Caesar yells at Red.

Colonel orders Caesar and the orangutan to be put in front of him. He ruthlessly kills the orangutan then aims his gun at Caesar. He orders Red to tie Caesar an "x" shaped post in the middle of the depot, for all to see.

Later, Red cuts Caesar down, claiming that the Colonel would like to speak to him.

In his office, the Colonel tells Caesar that the apes will not receive food or water until their work is finished. Caesar then taunts him for killing his own men. The Colonel explains that the Simian Flu is still carried by all survivors, and overtime, the effects progress to the point of being unable to speak. He claims this is what happened to his son, and says he sacrificed his own son to protect humanity. The soldiers he killed had the same inability to speak.

The Colonel then tells Caesar that he is building the wall to help defend his army from the actual Human Military, who he claims fear him and are trying to stop him.

He finally tells Caesar that he did not mean to kill Blue-Eyes, but that he does not feel bad for what he did. This sends Caesar into a fury before he is tackled and brought back to his post.

In the morning, the worker apes are given food and water, however when it is Caesar's turn, Red pours the cold water on his head. Caesar is up on the post for a while longer and he is freezing due to the water being poured on him and being exposed to the cold climate around the depot, before being cut down. The Colonel tells Red that in the morning Caesar will go back to work or be killed.

That night, the Colonel resides in his office while all the apes escape the depot. As morning comes, so do the rest of the Human Military. They fire at the Colonel's troops in helicopters and tanks. The Colonel's troops manage to hold them off while other soldiers attempt to reach the Colonel, who has locked himself in his office.

Caesar, set on revenge, gets into the Colonel's office via the balcony, and finds blood all over the room. He makes his way to the Colonel's bedroom to find him bleeding from the nose and reaching for a bottle of whiskey. The Colonel looks up at Caesar, and attempts to speak, but is unable to due to the Simian Flu.

Caesar grabs the Colonel's Colt Commander that he used to kill the orangutan, and points it at the Colonel himself. The Colonel puts his hand on Caesar's, signifying that he wants Caesar to pull the trigger. However, Caesar realizes what he is doing, and pulls the Colonel's hand off his own, before setting down the handgun.

The Colonel grabs the handgun and points it at the top of his eye. Caesar leaves the room just as the Colonel pulls the trigger, ending his own life. The Colonel's troops enter the office just in time to see Caesar, who grabs a belt of grenades and runs.

After Caesar blows up a large tank of gasoline next to the wall with a grenade, the wall is destroyed.

Minutes later, an avalanche occurs and the entire depot is covered in snow. The Human Military is killed by the avalanche too while attempting to retreat.

Trivia

 * He is the 2nd main antagonist of the Planet of the Ape series that is human, the other one is Steven Jacobs.
 * The other main antagonists are: Dr. Zaius, General Ursus, General Thade, and Koba, all of four are apes.