James Gunn made headlines as he unveiled a slate of film and television series for the DCU. Titled Chapter 1, "Gods and Monsters," many iconic DC heroes like Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern were given the spotlight as well as cult heroes like Swamp Thing and Booster Gold. Yet one title certainly stood out from the pack: The Authority.
Instead of Wonder Woman 3 or a fan-favorite hero like Zatanna or Green Arrow, The Authority is set to get a feature film in this new era of the DCU. Created by Bryan Hitch and Warren Ellis, The Authority was published by DC subsidiary Wildstorm, which was an independent comic publisher founded by superstar artist Jim Lee.
Many iconic figures in comics have written for The Authority including Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Marc Bernardin, Tom Taylor, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning, just to name a few. Yet why of all the properties did Warner Bros. and DC decide to adapt The Authority as a film? The characters and concepts might be part of building a larger storyline in the DCU.
The Authority and What Made Them Special
In the comics, The Authority is actually a rebranding of the superhero team Stormwatch and featured many characters from that original comic. The hook of The Authority is that they are the superhero team who will get the job done by any means necessary, and in 1999 when the book was first published, they were willing to kill their enemies. While that is pretty common now, and even at the time antiheroes like Wolverine and The Punisher were popular, The Authority took the traditional superhero team mold of the Justice League or The Avengers and showed how violent they could be.
The Authority was a comic very much of its moment and was notable for its excessive violence, discussions of sexuality, and also prominent sex scenes, as well as political commentary. The comic was heavily re-edited following the September 11th attacks and in the years that followed the teams, unilateral interventionism would be compared to the United States invasion and occupation of Iraq. With the comic being so tied to the end of the 90s and early 2000s, it will be interesting to see if the film is set to be a period piece, or updated for a contemporary setting and if it is how the adaptation will handle those changes.
Who Are the Members of The Authority
The team's lineup from the original comics appears to be the basis for the film. The leader was Jenny Sparks, a British woman who could generate and turn into electricity and is said to be the "spirit of the 20th century" notably died at midnight on January 1, 2000, at the dawn of the 21st century.
Jack Hawksmoor is psychically bonded to cities in order to communicate with them and receive powers from them, and becomes the team's leader after Jenny Sparks dies. The Engineer is a scientist who, after replacing her blood with nine pints of nanotechnology, can create solid objects out of it similar to the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The Doctor is a Dutch drug addict and shaman who possessed the combined powers of the hundreds of shamans who came before him. There is also Swift, a Tibetan woman who possesses wings and sharp talons.
Two of the team's most notable members are Apollo, who is a Superman pastiche and possess similar powers to the man of steel, including absorbing energy from the sun; there is also Midnighter, who is molded after Batman and can foresee his opponents' moves during combat. Apollo and Midnighter are not just teammates but romantic partners and are one of the most prominent gay romances in comics. This is arguably the most anticipated aspect of adapting The Authority to the big screen, as the chance to see an LGBTQ+ romance in a superhero film is a big deal.
The Authority Fits James Gunn's Sensibilities
While The Authority was a popular comic in the late 90s and early 2000s, the team's popularity is nowhere near as high as it once was. The team has not had an ongoing comic since 2010, although following "Flashpoint" and many of the Wildstorm characters being brought into the DC Universe during The New 52, some characters have made appearances. It begs the question of why James Gunn decided this was one of the properties that would not only get a movie but be one of the first major announcements?
An obvious response is that it gives Warner Bros. their own answer to the popular Prime Video series The Boys, as The Authority is also a graphically violent and sexually charged deconstruction of the superhero genre. It makes sense that Warner Bros. would want to have its own version, but it is more than that.
The Authority are very much cut from a similar mold to Gunn's most prominent superhero projects, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad. Like those two franchises, The Authority are not quiet superheroes and can do morally questionable things, but there is a sense of finding purpose in what appears to be broken. The comic is obscure to mainstream audiences just like the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Suicide Squad and provides the opportunity to make a big bold impression on audiences for the first time. While the news certainly was a surprise, in hindsight it should not be shocking.
Will The Authority Fight the New Superman?
The Authority being announced alongside the new Superman reboot titled Superman: Legacy might indicate the direction of the franchise and that a potential crossover is being built between the two properties. Superman and the Authority have clashed before in Grant Morrison's recent story Superman and the Authority. Gunn appears to be a big fan of Morrison's work, as he tweeted out a photo of himself reading Morrison's iconic All-Star Superman and the upcoming Batman movie Brave and the Bold will be based on Morrison's run comic arc that introduced Damian Wayne.
The Authority were also the inspiration for The Elite, a team of superpowered antiheroes that faced off against Superman in one of his most iconic and beloved stories, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?" The story was adapted into a direct-to-video animated film, Superman vs. The Elite and The Elite appeared on the CW series Supergirl. With The Elite being inspired by The Authority, and the Authority now set to headline their own DC film, Warner Bros. might be merging the two concepts together.
James Gunn, Peter Safran, and Warner Bros. might be building to a film adaptation of the iconic Superman story but instead of The Elite, he faces off against the Authority. The film could draw from "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?" and Superman and the Authority as well as the iconic storyline Kingdom Come which saw Superman facing off against a team of superpowered antiheroes. Gunn has tweeted out photos of Kingdom Come since being appointed as head of DC Studios, so there is a good chance The Authority and Superman will collide.