DC Studios co-chair James Gunn had quite the busy social media fingers this past weekend. In addition to providing updates on DC Studios' upcoming television slate, revealing how involved he was with Shazam 2's end credits scene and defending himself against claims of nepotism, Gunn also revealed that the studio has already hired a writer for The Authority.
Replying to a fan on social media, Gunn wrote, "The Authority aren't being cast but we've had a writer for a long time."
It should be noted, that there was a laughable rumor back in September that the film would see Sam Worthington play Midnighter, Alexander Skarsgård would be cast as Apollo, Kiera Knightley was playing Jenny Sparks, Gerard Butler would star as Jack Hawksmoor, Keke Palmer was playing the Engineer, and Riz Ahmed was co-starring as the Doctor.
The rumor also stated that Drew Goddard would write the screenplay and Matthew Vaughn would direct. This all seems highly unlikely, especially given the fact that the casting for The Engineer has already been proven untrue.
Will The Authority be the next film to follow Superman: Legacy? That would make sense as one of the team's members, The Engineer, is already confirmed to appear in the Superman film.
And as Gunn previously revealed, casting for DCU projects won't begin until the script is complete. So with a writer already hired, it seems DC Studios could start filling out the cast for The Authority fairly soon.
But one has to wonder much free time Gun will have to devote to weighing in on casting for The Authority as he'll be very busy directing Superman: Legacy, working on Peacemaker season 2 and at the very least, he'll need to be involved with the promotional campaign for Creature Commandos- the very first offering from the new DC cinematic universe. There's also the small job of handling the day-to-day tasks of running a film studio.
Aside from The Engineer, the roster for the team is expected to include (based on their tenure on the team across various comic book runs) Apollo, Midnighter, Jack Hawksmoor aka The God of Cities, and Jenny Sparks the Spirit of the Twentieth Century. Less certain team members that could appear also include The Doctor a.k.a. Jeroen Thornedike, Swift a.k.a. Shen Li-Min, Jenny Quantum the Spirit of the 21st Century and The High a.k.a. John Cumberland.
During the reveal of the Gods and Monsters: Chapter 1 slate, Gunn revealed that he was very enthusiastic about The Authority stating, "The Authority is a passion project of mine. It's based on the marvelous Wildstorm characters. We are now bringing them into the DCU and they will interact with all of the primary DCU characters. The Authority are a group of superheroes that think the world is broken and they want to fix it by any means necessary. I think it's a very different look at superheroes. "
The other tidbit from the Gods and Monsters: Chapter 1 slate reveal that seems to be going under the radar is that Gunn appeared to be announcing projects in chronological order of release date. The first three projects discussed in the video were Creature Commandos, Waller and then Superman: Legacy.
We now know that Creature Commandos is set to be released in 2024, Waller will also be released in 2024 and Superman: Legacy, barring any delays, will hit theaters on July 11, 2025. If this proves true, here's the order of release for Gods and Monsters: Chapter 1:
- Creature Commandos animated TV series in 2024
- Waller live-action tv series in 2024
- Superman: Legacy live-action movie on July 11, 2025
- Lanterns live-action TV series
- The Authority live-action movie
- Paradise Lost live-action TV series
- The Brave and the Bold live action movie
- Booster Gold live-action TV series
- Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow live-action movie
- Swamp Thing live-action movie
Are you excited for a film centered around The Authority? Or do you think its a weird choice, given that DC Comics has several other, more popular superhero teams? Let us know in the comment section below.