The Authority

[LoganGambit87]

wonder if Jenny Sparkss is gonna be pom klementieff since james gunn has hinted at her coming over to DC

 

[squeekness]

Quitely's artwork is so absurdly good. It has this weird liquid-y texture to it that I love.

And yet for some reason I've never liked it, don't know why. I'm more of a Finch and James Lee fan.

 

[emielaen]

And yet for some reason I've never liked it, don't know why. I'm more of a Finch and James Lee fan.

Haha. I had to get used to it when I first started reading All Star Superman, but it didn't take long. Both Lee and Finch are ridiculous too though.

 

[Silvermoth]

I can’t believe we’re going to see midnighter and Apollo in live action. What a time to be alive. Never thought I would see it

 

[Sawyer]

 

[TheScarecrow]

Jeff Sneider says he's heard Drew Goddard is in talks to direct this one.

 

[Silvermoth]

Should be mike white :hilarious:

 

[Sawyer]

Jeff Sneider says he's heard Drew Goddard is in talks to direct this one.

I wouldn’t have a problem with that.

 

[Tg11]

The Authority (DCU fan cast)

- Jenny Sparks- Anya Taylor Joy
- Midnighter- Alden Ehrenreich
- Apollo- Alexander Skarsgard
- Jack Hawksmoor- David Oyelowo
- Angela Spica/The Engineer II- Janelle Monae
- Swift- Stephanie Hsu
- The Doctor- Rupert Grint
- Kaizen Gamorra- Hiroyuki Sanada
- Rose Tattoo- Zazie Beetz
- The Engineer- Brendan Fraser
- Jackson King- Lakeith Stanfield
- Zealot- Emma D'Arcy
- Grifter- Austin Butler
- Henry Bendix- Bryan Cranston
- Christine Trelane- Katee Sackhoff


Cameos from:

- Bruce Wayne/Batman (mid credits)- Jake Gyllenhaal

- Clark Kent/Kal El/Superman- David Corenswet
- John Stewart/Green Lantern- John David Washington

 

[chamber-music]

I admit that I haven't read any of The Authority comics and am not very familiar with them, but from what I can gather they seem very... morally opposed to the more traditional superheroes in the DC universe like Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman. So I am not sure how you could put them all in the same universe and not have conflict.

Maybe Gunn keeps them in their own multiverse where they get to be the main characters of their own story, but I doubt that is going to happen.

The Authority are generally about direct intervention. Traditional superheroes are usually about inspiring the rest of the world to be good. The Authority are generally be good or else. They hold the powers that be to account and keep them in check. The wildstorm run touched on the geopolitics/ social issues of the time and satires some existing comic charters and tropes.

The biggest claim to fame of the authority is that it pioneered the blockbuster wide screen comic style that Millar and Hitch recreated with the ultimates at Marvel.

 

[TheVileOne]

Personally, I think an Authority movie is a terrible idea because they are way more flawed than your typical superheroes, and that's likely going to repel audiences. The Authority is more like The Boys than Justice League. But we'll see.

Just to use an example, there was a lot of talk about using Ultimates as inspiration for Avengers. Now, the MCU did take a few cues from the Ultimate Universe and comics, but the Avengers movie as a final product turned out nothing like the Ultimates, other than family man no mask Hawkeye and Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury.

Ultimates is basically like if the Avengers were The Authority.

 

[DCDAVE]

Just saw a YouTube video highlighting the Authority. Jack, Jenny Sparks, Midnighter, the Doctor, and Apollo are standouts to me. These characters have tons of potential but they seem to be good guys for the most part. Don’t see them fighting Superman in Legacy but might disagree with him.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Personally, I think an Authority movie is a terrible idea because they are way more flawed than your typical superheroes, and that's likely going to repel audiences. The Authority is more like The Boys than Justice League. But we'll see.

Just to use an example, there was a lot of talk about using Ultimates as inspiration for Avengers. Now, the MCU did take a few cues from the Ultimate Universe and comics, but the Avengers movie as a final product turned out nothing like the Ultimates, other than family man no mask Hawkeye and Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury.

Ultimates is basically like if the Avengers were The Authority.

An extremely popular show? If anything The Boys success might be part of why they think it’ll succeed.

 

[TheVileOne]

An extremely popular show? If anything The Boys success might be part of why they think it’ll succeed.

Yes a TV show that basically satirizes and parodies mainstream superhero comics and superheroes, plus movies of the MCU and DCEU. Bringing that style into your new DCU is inherently risky.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

Yes a TV show that basically satirizes and parodies mainstream superhero comics and superheroes, plus movies of the MCU and DCEU. Bringing that style into your new DCU is inherently risky.

Sure, but its also not the same style of story as The Authority. The writing in The Authority was never massively sophisticated (the less said about Mark Millar's run, which was far closer to what you are describing, the better) but the characters still have a lot of potential to be engaging and its not like they're universally total unlikable ghouls.

Its risky but I don't see why taking risks is a bad thing from an audience perspective. There's lots of DC movies I think would make about five dollars that I'd love for them to do. There is an obvious safe route they could take but even that isn't anywhere near a guaranteed success and just isn't very interesting. Now feels like the time to try taking big, unexpected swings with the superhero genre.

 

[Boom]

I'm of the opposite mind. After reading up a bit on The Authority, I think introducing them is a great idea. Nevermind the fact that they're interesting characters, but their more extreme methods inspiring Superman to create the Justice League is a cool idea. It reminds me a bit of Kingdom Come. Superman sees the situation and goes, "Yeah no, this isn't going to work. We need to be better."

But the Authority are "heroes" (or regard themselves as such), so there's an opportunity for great nuance and character work in that conflict.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm of the opposite mind. After reading up a bit on The Authority, I think introducing them is a great idea. Nevermind the fact that they're interesting characters, but their more extreme methods inspiring Superman to create the Justice League is a cool idea. It reminds me a bit of Kingdom Come. Superman sees the situation and goes, "Yeah no, this isn't going to work. We need to be better."

But the Authority are "heroes" (or regard themselves as such), so there's an opportunity for great nuance and character work in that conflict.

That wasn't the impression I got from Kingdom Come. Seemed to be a far more complex situation. As I recall, Superman's actions didn't really have that desired outcome.

To me, bringing Authority into your film universe would be like making a Ultimates movie. It wouldn't work and people wouldn't like it. No one wants to see Captain America kick people while they are down, ask if the A on his forehead stands for France, and Hulk being utterly offensive:

https://i.redd.it/1tbxsfad8n711.png

 

[Boom]

That wasn't the impression I got from Kingdom Come. Seemed to be a far more complex situation. As I recall, Superman's actions didn't really have that desired outcome.

To me, bringing Authority into your film universe would be like making a Ultimates movie. It wouldn't work and people wouldn't like it. No one wants to see Captain America kick people while they are down, ask if the A on his forehead stands for France, and Hulk being utterly offensive:

https://i.redd.it/1tbxsfad8n711.png

Right, I'm referring more to similarity to Superman's call to action in that book.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

That wasn't the impression I got from Kingdom Come. Seemed to be a far more complex situation. As I recall, Superman's actions didn't really have that desired outcome.

To me, bringing Authority into your film universe would be like making a Ultimates movie. It wouldn't work and people wouldn't like it. No one wants to see Captain America kick people while they are down, ask if the A on his forehead stands for France, and Hulk being utterly offensive:

https://i.redd.it/1tbxsfad8n711.png

None of these are characters people have preconceived notions about though so it really isn’t the same as Cap being a raging prick. The reason Ultimates is so off putting is because it’s written by Mark Millar who is an infamous edgelord D-Bag and bad writer, plenty of great action movies have characters who are sort of unpleasant anti heroes at their core. They can still also be sympathetic and interesting, they’re not gonna act like the Ultimates because no one writes like Mark Millar except Millar.

It’s no different than TSS or Peacemaker. The former obviously struggled financially but it was a hit critically and I don’t think the characters being rough around the edges had anything to do with its underperformance. It is just so clearly the kind of project you’d get from a Gunn lead DC, your mileage may vary on whether that’s a good thing or not but there was always gonna be some projects in this vein.

 

[Invader Joker]

I don't have problem with an Authority movie existing but I do think that having it come out as the second film in the DCU is a terrible idea that's kinda setting up this DCU for failure. Maybe as a fourth or fifth film it'd be fine... but second film is just asking for a disaster.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

People ****ing love The Boys. There is 100% a market for this and The Authority isn’t even inherently in the same ballpark of edginess as that show. If you go back to the Ellis run they aren’t even really comically huge jerks, they’re just sort of edgy because it’s a comic from 2000 written for fourteen year olds.

I am totally indifferent to whether it’s successful or a good idea for the franchise because it’s a movie I want to see and could care less about the success of the DCU, but I honestly do feel that with a great cast and a strong filmmaker this could be something. Particularly if Legacy is a success as we can assume this will be a pseudo-sequel to it, which they are 100% banking on.

Of course it’ll probably be Matthew Vaughn or Goddard and be awful.

 

[Boom]

The Seven are corporate shills and power-mad egomaniacs (with the exception of Maeve and Starlight). They save people because that's business to them.

The Authority heroes genuinely want to help good people and keep the peace. It's just they are so vicious and unmerciful towards bad guys in pursuit of that goal.

It's an interesting dichotomy that I don't think we've quite seen before. It's like if you took Superman and kept everything about him the same, except for how he treats bad guys. One minute he's saving a little girl's cat out of a tree. The next he's incinerating a bank robber.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I could also see an Authority movie doing the thing the Snyder movies tried and failed to do of showing the genuine horrifying consequences that big superhero level threats/disasters would entail really well. Would add a lot of nuance to the extremity of what The Authority is willing to do to prevent them.

It wouldn’t have to be this dour (I suspect it’ll be closer in tone to TSS) but I imagine a sort of tragic story about moral compromise and mission creep played out with superheroes.

 

[Invader Joker]

The Seven are corporate shills and power-mad egomaniacs (with the exception of Maeve and Starlight). They save people because that's business to them.

The Authority heroes genuinely want to help good people and keep the peace. It's just they are so vicious and unmerciful towards bad guys in pursuit of that goal.

It's an interesting dichotomy that I don't think we've quite seen before. It's like if you took Superman and kept everything about him the same, except for how he treats bad guys. One minute he's saving a little girl's cat out of a tree. The next he's incinerating a bank robber.

I hate to say this but...
Black Adam.
That was literally the entire marketing push behind Black Adam.

 

[Boom]

I hate to say this but...
Black Adam.
That was literally the entire marketing push behind Black Adam.

Well it failed because I never got that impression at all.