DCU's The Authority Film Delayed, Gunn Struggles to Match The Boys' Tone

It seems that the DCU movie The Authority is facing some challenges, as DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has admitted that the project has been put on the "back burner." This film was announced as part of Gunn and Peter Safran's ambitious Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters DC Universe reboot two years ago. The Authority features a notoriously brutal superhero team from the WildStorm Universe, which Gunn had initially described as a "big movie." However, it appears to have encountered significant hurdles.

During a DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn revealed that The Authority is the most challenging project among those announced for Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters. He cited the success of Amazon's The Boys as a contributing factor, noting the difficulty of getting the film right in a world influenced by The Boys and other works inspired by The Authority.

Gunn elaborated, "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. 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, electronics prodigy The Engineer / Angela Spica, is set to appear in the DCU's kickoff film Superman. The Engineer is considered one of the most powerful members of the group, with abilities such as 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 HBO Max 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 remains a key project, with Gunn stating, "It seems to be going pretty well. The pilot's being written right now," confirmed by Safran.

Regarding Swamp Thing, Safran noted that DC Studios is willing to wait for director James Mangold to be ready. Mangold is currently working on another film, A Complete Unknown, but Safran expressed optimism about his return to Swamp Thing, saying, "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." Gunn added that Swamp Thing "is not integral to the larger story that we're telling. Right. Yeah, it was always outside of that. I mean, it was because James came to us with it, frankly."