DCU's The Authority Film Delayed, Gunn Cites Challenges Amid The Boys' Success

It appears that the DCU movie The Authority is facing some challenges, as confirmed by DC Studios co-chief James Gunn, who admitted that the project has been placed on the "back burner."

Announced as part of Gunn and Peter Safran's ambitious Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters DC Universe reboot two years ago, The Authority was intended to bring the notoriously brutal superhero team from the WildStorm Universe to the big screen. Gunn initially described it as a "big movie," but it seems the project has encountered significant hurdles.

During a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn revealed that The Authority is the "hardest" of the announced projects to develop. He cited the success of Amazon's The Boys as a contributing factor, noting the challenges of fitting The Authority into a world already influenced by similar themes and characters.

"Honestly, Authority's been the one that's been the hardest, both because of the shifting overall story and because of getting it right in a world with The Boys and a world with all the things that The Authority influenced that came out after it," Gunn explained.

He also mentioned the desire to continue the stories of characters already filmed and to see them interact, which adds another layer of complexity to the project. "And also having a lot of characters that we've fallen in love with that we've already filmed and have that we want to continue their stories and see them meet each other. So I will admittedly say it's a little bit more on the back burner right now."

DC Universe: Every Upcoming Movie and TV Show

38 ImagesOne character from The Authority, the electronics prodigy The Engineer / Angela Spica, is set to appear in the DCU kickstarter Superman. The Engineer is arguably the most powerful member of the group, with abilities including self-duplication, technopathy, genius-level intellect, and radio-induced telepathy. For more information on the team, check out IGN's article, Who Are the Authority: The WildStorm DCU Characters Explained.

The Authority isn't the only project in Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters facing difficulties. Gunn mentioned that Waller, a spinoff of his own HBO Max hit series Peacemaker, has experienced "a couple of setbacks." On a more positive note, the HBO Max series Booster Gold "is going pretty strong," and Paradise Lost is "totally, still important and we're working heavily on it," according to Gunn. "It seems to be going pretty well." Peter Safran confirmed that the pilot for Paradise Lost is currently being written.

Regarding Swamp Thing, Safran stated that DC Studios is willing to wait for director James Mangold, who is currently working on another project, A Complete Unknown. "Our writer-director went off to make another little movie, A Complete Unknown, and we hope that he'll come back to Swamp Thing when he's ready, because again, that was one of those ones that we love him as a filmmaker, so we're happy to wait for him," Safran said, referring to Mangold's upcoming Star Wars movie, Dawn of the Jedi.

However, Gunn clarified that Swamp Thing "is not integral to the larger story that we're telling." "Right. Yeah, it was always outside of that," Gunn added. "I mean, it was because James came to us with it, frankly."