With Superman, Supergirl, Clayface, and Lanterns, James Gunn’s DC Universe is in full swing. However, one of the first projects announced for the studio’s new era is officially no more.
Writing on Threads, the co-president of DC Studios revealed that The Authority, one of the 10 initial projects announced by Gunn and co-president of DC Peter Safran back in 2023, is no longer in development. “The script wasn’t quite there, but more importantly, it didn’t work in terms of the larger DCU, both in terms of the story and practical concerns,” Gunn said when asked about the project. “Maybe someday. Not soon.”
This probably isn’t all that surprising to people following all things DC. After announcing The Authority as one of the first 10 projects on the DC slate, Gunn updated fans on the film early last year. “Honestly, Authority has been the one that’s been the hardest,” Gunn said in 2025. “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. And so it’s been—I will admittedly say it’s a little bit more on the back burner right now.”
That was last year, and now, it’s gone.
Created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch back in 1999, The Authority was a superhero team-up story that Gunn was initially very high on. “They’re basically good-intentioned, but they think that the world is completely broken and the only way to fix it is to take things into their own hands,” he said back in 2023. “Whether that means killing people, destroying heads of state, changing governments, whatever they want to do to make the world better. And we’ll see how that journey goes for them.”
Not good, apparently. However, of those initial 10 projects, most things are going very well for Gunn and his team. Superman, Supergirl, Lanterns, and Creature Commandos have all either been released or are coming soon. The Brave and the Bold and Booster Gold are both still in development, and while there haven’t been many positive updates on Waller, Paradise Lost, or Swamp Thing, we are getting a Clayface movie and Man of Tomorrow, a Superman/Lex Luthor team-up movie. So all is well in the DCU. Just not for The Authority.
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