James Gunn’s ‘Superman: Legacy’ Film Reportedly To Introduce The Authority

John F. Trent |

Jun 12, 2023

The Authority in The Authority #2 (1999), DC Comics

A new report claims that James Gunn’s upcoming Superman: Legacy film will also introduce The Authority to the DCU.

Gunn previously detailed to The Hollywood Reporter that the first chapter of the DCU would “take our diamond characters, which is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and we use them to prop up other characters that people don’t know.”

Fellow DC Studios CEO Peter Safran added, “To build those lesser known properties into the diamond properties of tomorrow.”

These were interesting comments because the second film the two DC Studios CEOs announced as part of their film slate was The Authority. The Authority is clearly not a diamond property and in fact many of the characters on the team weren’t even created under DC Comics proper. The team was originally created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch after DC Comics acquired Wildstorm Productions. Ellis would incoporate many of his Stormwatch characters, which he created before DC Comics acquired Wildstorm, into the team.

Given both Gunn and Safran’s comments it was more than likely The Authority would show up in Superman: Legacy in some fashion because there wasn’t any other film ahead of The Authority that would be considered a diamond property.

Now, a new report appears to confirm those suspicions.

The Hollywood Reporter claims the film is currently undergoing screen tests to determine who will play Superman and Lois Lane as well as Lex Luthor. However, it also notes that the film is casting for “members of the supergroup The Authority, which are to be introduced in the movie.”

On top of this report from The Hollywood Reporter, scooper Daniel Richtman via ComicBookMovie.com claims that the members of The Authority that will appear in the film include Jack Hawksmoor, The Doctor, and Angela Spica.

Hawksmoor first appeared in StormWatch #37 and would go on to become one of the founding members of The Authority. His abilities allows him to communicate with urban cities and he can also phase through urban areas allowing him to pass through the ground or walls. His connection with urban areas also allows him to see everything that is happening in the city in real time.

Angela Spica or the Engineer was initially introduced in The Authority #1. She’s replaced her blood with liquid metal composed of microscopic nanotechnology.

This technology grants her a variety of abilities including flight, shape-shifting, and material creation.

As for The Doctor, the original version was Jeroen Thornedike, who was introduced in The Authority #1 as the heir to a group of magical beings calling themselves shamans that have the ability to manipulate magic and whose job is “to change the world” through the use of magic.

A second Doctor would be introduced in Habib bin Hassan in The Authority: Revolution #9. Hassan was an attempted suicide bomber before he was granted the abilities of the Doctor.

As for what moviegoers might expect from Superman: Legacy, Safran previously teased, “It’s not an origin story. It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned.”

Gunn noted, “Superman: Legacy is the true foundation of our creative vision for the DC Universe. Not only is Superman an iconic part of DC lore, he is also a favorite character for comic book readers, viewers of earlier movies, and fans around the world. I can’t wait to introduce our version of Superman who audiences will be able to follow and get to know across films, movies, animation and gaming.”

As for The Authority film, Gunn teased at the end of January, “The Authority is a passion project of mine. It’s based on the marvelous Wildstorm characters we are now bringing into the DCU and will interact with all of our primary DCU characters.”

“The Authority are a group of superheroes who think the world is broken and they want to fix it by any means necessary,” he explained. “I think it’s very different look at superheroes.”