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| Forbidden City | |
| Continuity: | Planet of the Apes |
| Aliases: | Modern City |
| Category: | Region |
| Continent: | North America |
| Country: | United States of America |
| State: | California |
| City: | Modern City |
| Residents: | Kolp; Alma; Mendez |
| 1st appearance: | Battle for the Planet of the Apes |
The Forbidden City is a fictional location featured in the Planet of the Apes multimedia franchise. Some sources also identify this locale as the "Forbidden Zone". For purposes of clarification, the Forbidden Zone article relates to an altogether different, yet fundamentally important locale in the franchise. The Forbidden City first appeared as a normal location called Modern City in the 1972 Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. It became its more appropriately named "Forbidden City" in the events following that movie up until and including its sequel, Battle for the Planet of the Apes.
Forbidden City was located in Northern California and occupied areas including parts of San Francisco and possibly even reached as far as Los Angeles.
At some point in the late 20th century, an ape rebellion evolved into a full-scale war, which included the use of nuclear weapons. Details surrounding these events are sparse, but what is known is that the western United States was devastated, and the area that was once Modern City was destroyed. Those who survived, remained behind, taking up shelter in the underground caverns and bunkers. They were greatly disfigured from lingering atomic radiation.
Decades later, the ape leader Caesar presided over his community at Ape City, which was a several days ride from the Forbidden City. When he learned that recordings of his late parents might have survived in the city's archives, he mounted an expedition to ferret out the truth of his heritage. Bringing along his trusted orangutan aide Virgil, and his human companion, Bruce MacDonald, the three ventured into the Forbidden City. They encountered the mutants, and exchanged gunfire with them, but Caesar was able to finally find the recording of his parents that he had been looking for.
When the mutant survivors learned that there were those who had lived outside the Forbidden City, they took up arms against them, but were ultimately defeated.
One of the last vestiges of the old world that had remained was a leftover un-detonated nuclear weapon known as the Alpha-Omega bomb. It was deemed a planet killer and was kept safely contained. Following the failure of Governor Kolp's uprising against the apes, a Forbidden City survivor named Alma intended on detonating the bomb. Another survivor named Mendez convinced her to let things be. At some point over the course of several centuries, the Alpha-Omega bomb found its way from the West Coast to the Forbidden Zone area of the East Coast, where it was worshiped by 40th century mutants.