DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has confirmed that The Authority — one of the five feature films announced as part of DCU Chapter One in January 2023 — has been shelved indefinitely, making it the first significant casualty of his and Peter Safran’s plan to rebuild the DC Universe from the ground up.
Gunn disclosed the news on Threads while responding to a fan theory that he had planned to write and direct the film himself. He flatly denied that: “I would have never had time to do this and although I know this is a popular theory online I never had an intention of writing or directing The Authority.” He then explained the project’s fate: “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. Maybe some day. Not soon.”
The shelving arrives after a prolonged and troubled development. As recently as February 2025, Gunn had acknowledged the film’s difficulties at a DC press event, saying it was “a very big movie, if you’re going to do it properly” and that story elements introduced in Superman and other fast-tracked projects had complicated The Authority’s path. “The script had a harder time coming along,” he said at the time. Last September, Gunn mentioned having spoken to “a really good creator” about the property — talks that evidently produced no usable result.
The irony is that The Authority’s DNA already runs through the existing DCU. María Gabriela de Faría portrayed Angela Spica — The Engineer — in 2025’s Superman, where her role was specifically designed to seed a future Authority film. She is set to return in the sequel, Man of Tomorrow, due July 9, 2027. Lex Luthor’s PlanetWatch organization in Superman also draws directly from StormWatch, the comic team from which The Authority originally broke away.
Created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Bryan Hitch, The Authority first appeared in 1999 under DC’s Wildstorm imprint, featuring a team of antiheroes who take unilateral, often extreme action to fix global problems regardless of government sanction.
Gunn’s Threads post also addressed two other long-dormant Chapter One projects. He confirmed that Booster Gold remains “in development” and Paradise Lost is in “extreme development,” though neither has a production timeline. Other announced titles — The Brave and the Bold, Swamp Thing, and Waller — remain similarly unscheduled. The DCU’s next confirmed release is Supergirl, opening June 26.
