It sounds like the DCU movie The Authority is facing some challenges after DC Studios co-chief James Gunn admitted it had been put 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 described by Gunn as a "big movie." This film is centered around the notoriously brutal superhero team from the WildStorm Universe, but it seems to have encountered significant hurdles.
At a recent DC Studios presentation attended by IGN, Gunn revealed that The Authority is the "hardest" of the announced projects to develop. He pointed to the success of Amazon's The Boys as a contributing factor to the challenges. "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 confessed.
He further explained that the project's complexity is compounded by the desire to continue the stories of characters already filmed and to see them interact. "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
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One 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 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 Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters project facing difficulties. Gunn mentioned that Waller, a spinoff of his HBO Max series Peacemaker, has experienced "a couple of setbacks." However, the HBO Max series Booster Gold "is going pretty strong," and Paradise Lost remains "totally, still important and we're working heavily on it," according to Gunn. "It seems to be going pretty well," he added, with Peter Safran confirming that "the pilot's being written right now."
Regarding Swamp Thing, Safran stated that DC Studios is prepared to wait for director James Mangold, who is currently working on A Complete Unknown and an upcoming Star Wars film, Dawn of the Jedi. "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.
However, Gunn noted 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."
