Ongaro

Ongaro, "The Negro"
Biographical information
Species	Mutant Human
Gender	Male
Born	Unknown
Died	3979
Appearances
Continuity	Movies
Actor	Don Pedro Colley
First Appearance	Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Last Appearance	Beneath the Planet of the Apes

"We are a patient people, Mister Brent. We can repeat this little lesson as often as you want, because we are determined to know what the apes want: war, or peace."

―Ongaro

Ongaro was a Mutant who lived under the radiated remains of New York in the Future and was also a member of the Fellowship of the Holy Fallout.

Biography

Ongaro (d. 3978) was one of the mutants that lived beneath the ruins of St. Patrick's Cathedral in the latter half of the 40th century. He was one of the elders of the community.

A self-proclaimed pacifist, Ongaro did not believe in direct physical violence. Rather, he preferred to use his mental prowess to manipulate his foes into killing each other. Like all leaders of the mutants, Ongaro possessed the ability to project his thoughts directly into the minds of others. He could also exert control over select individuals, forcing them to commit acts of violence. Ongaro could pull abstract mental impressions from a target's mind and visually project them for others to see. His projections were always filtered through a haze of yellow light, oftentimes overlapping psychic impressions created by his fellow mutants. Of all the known mutant leaders, Ongaro appeared to harbor a great enmity towards both apes and non-mutant humans.

Ongaro was one of several mutants present at the interrogation of John Brent and the mute human, Nova. The mutants forced Brent to attack Nova, nearly choking her to death, in the hopes of getting him to reveal critical information concerning a nearby community of militant apes.

Later, Ongaro imprisoned Brent in a cell along with another human - the time lost George Taylor. He forced Taylor and Brent to fight one another, but the unexpected presence of Nova distracted the mutant long enough for the others to momentarily break free of the mind control. Taylor and Brent attacked Ongaro and Brent impaled him against the spiked bars of the cell, killing him.

Ongaro pursued a forbidden personal relationship with Albina in the lead-up to the ape invasion of their city.

Notes

Ongaro during Brent's interrogation

• In the final shooting script of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, as well as in the film's closing credits, Don Pedro Colley's character is credited only as "Negro". The name 'Ongoro' was invented by The Mutant News fake newspaper issued at the time of the movie's release, while Colley's official website uses the spelling 'Ongaro'. 'Negro' is a term used repeatedly by scriptwriter Paul Dehn. The term had almost passed out of acceptable usage, but was not intended offensively, as he used it to specify powerful or sympathetic characters, including the 'Negro Lawyer', the 'Negro Tycoons', and both MacDonalds were requested to be 'negro' for the purposes of the plot.

• All of the elders of the mutant community wore liturgical vestments, which were color-coordinated with the visual effects of their thought projection abilities. Ongaro wore a yellow stole over his tunic to match the color of his psychic impressions.

• Each Inquisitor pursued an individual line of questioning with Brent; the Negro asked no questions at all, but was there merely to induce pain.

Merchandise

In 2004, Sideshow Collectibles produced a twelve-inch limited edition Ongaro action figure. Labeled as "Mutant Jailor", only 500 models of this Planet of the Apes collectible were put into production. The figure features over thirty points of articulation, as well as a removable face-piece revealing Ongaro's radiation-scarred visage. The "Mutant Jailor" figure was packaged with several accessories including an Alpha-Omega bomb launch command crystal, a Doomsday prayer book, An Alpha-Omega pendant and a figure display stand bearing the Beneath the Planet of the Apes movie logo. The figure was sculpted by artist Mat Falls.

Appearances

• Beneath the Planet of the Apes
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (comic)
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (novel)
• Planet of the Apes Magazine: Beneath the Planet of the Apes
• Adventures on the Planet of the Apes: Beneath the Planet of the Apes
• Neil Foster & Michael Whitty's Within The Planet Of The Apes (fan fiction)
• Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes
• Death of the Planet of the Apes

References