Tublat, while portrayed as a fairly passive figure in the novel, is resentful of his foster-son Tarzan, and would kill him given the chance.
In the 1984 movie Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Tublat is reimagined as Silverbeard, with a similarly conflicted relationship with his human foster child.
However, in the spin-off television series The Legend of Tarzan, Tublat himself appears as a separate and distinct character voiced by Keith David.
This version of Tublat is a violently aggressive, possibly even carnivorous, and a former member of Kerchak's gorilla tribe.
Kerchak defeats him, but immediately afterwards Tublat treacherously brains the victor with a rock and takes over the troop.
Kala later adopts the young Tarzan to take the place of her deceased child; the growing boy's relationship with Tublat is essentially the same as in Burroughs's original novel.