Authority (Wildstorm)

Superman and the Authority in Action Comics v1 #1036.

The Authority are a superhero team that features in Wildstorm/DC Comics.

History

Wildstorm

The Authority in The Authority v1 #1.

The Authority were a team of superhumans who positioned themselves as protectors of the Earth. They were formed after the decimation of StormWatch and the destruction of SkyWatch in an alien infestation. As a result, former member of StormWatch Black, Jenny Sparks, created the Authority alongside her teammates Swift and Jack Hawksmoor where their goal was to change the world through any means necessary. Among their members were the Engineer, the latest Doctor, Apollo and Midnighter. The Authority made their first public appearance to stop Kaizen Gamorra, an old enemy of StormWatch, who wanted to take advantage of StormWatch's breakup to take revenge upon the world. (The Authority v1 #1) Jenny Sparks came to recruit new versions of the Engineer and the Doctor, and along with Swift, Jack Hawksmoor, Midnighter and Apollo who formed the Authority to take the place of Stormwatch as the world's first defense against superhuman menaces. They discovered the Carrier, a sentient ship that could travel the Bleed, the space between worlds in the multiverse, and used it as their headquarters. Terrorist Kaizen Gamorra attacked Moscow, causing untold loss of life, and Jenny contacted her old handlers Jackson King and Christine Trelane for information on him. The Authority had already done their research, but she wanted her ex-handlers, who were still connected with the UN, to feel important. Jack visited Moscow, and realized the Children of Gamorra used teleporters with a unique energy signature. The signature appeared next in London, and the Authority arrived to defend Jenny's home. The Authority violently murdered a number of the Children of Gamorra, forcing the rest to teleport away. Apollo had wrecked the teleportation gear of one of the Children, who was forced to fly back to Gamorra Island, with Apollo in pursuit. Kaizen put up his island's force field to rethink his strategy, and the Doctor saved Apollo from splattering himself on the forcefield. The Doctor reminded him that although he was new to superheroics his mind was as old as human existence. Jenny split her team to offer emergency aid to Moscow and London. Jack thought that the more responsibility Jenny got the more she yelled and horrible she became but he still supported her. Sparks would tell Apollo that she was uncomfortable with leadership as she was haunted by past mistakes, but she had resolved that there had to be people ready to save the world and then change it. (The Authority v1 #2)

Apollo kept nagging Jenny about how they were going to get past Gamorra's forcefield, and Engineer had been working with the Carrier, which showed her it could open a gate directly to the island. Jenny told Midnighter to do recon on the island, while the rest of the team traveled to L.A., where they predicted Gamorra's next attack would come. Jack noted that they were resembling a team even though they knew virtually nothing about each other. Jenny contacted the UN to alert them to the danger to L.A., but before she could make any more preparations the Children of Gamorra arrived. The Doctor felt out of his element, but his predecessor spoke to him, reminding him that the world was his village, and he had every Doctor in his corner to help him realize his potential. The Doctor turned half of the attacking Children into trees, but the strain of such powerful magic left him unconscious, and he was returned to the Carrier. Engineer reminded her teammates she was not a soldier, but Jack convinced her she had to learn to fight, and she created a web of knives that cut a number of the Children to shreds. Midnighter made his way to Gamorra Tower, and discovered the bioreactor Gamorra was using to pump out more and more superhuman soldiers. Midnighter was trained to beat problems until they were dead, but he realized that strategy would not work against two miles of machinery. He returned to the Carrier, and plowed it into Gamorra Tower, destroying it. Jenny alerted the UN to send inspectors to Gamorra so they could recover Kaizen's technology, and she told the world they would make it better. (The Authority v1 #4)

The Engineer admitted to the Doctor that she missed her ordinary life and her experiments, but she felt a duty as a member of the Authority, and lived for the views, such as the Carrier taking them over the Mind Barrier reef, where the minds of latent telepaths grew as a colony. Christine Trelane contacted the Authority when a rip in spacetime opened and fighter jets emerged, devastating L.A. Apollo and the Doctor destroyed a number of the crafts, and Jenny Sparks recognized them. She said they were under attack from the parallell world of Sliding Albion. Jenny Sparks created a gigantic electric avatar, short-circuiting the ships, and reminding them that her Earth was still under her protection, before the remaining ships returned to Avalon. Jenny filled in the crew on her previous encounter battling a Sliding Avalon invasion in 1920, and reached out to her old contacts to get entry to R.A.F. Rendelsham's holding facility. She introduced the Authority to her ex-husband Lorenzo Antonio Slzfi. (The Authority v1 #6)

DC

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. The Authority

Superman came to recruit Manchester Black after he ended up paralyzed during a police raid where he brought him to the Fortress of Solitude to repair Black's spine and explained to him his idea. (Superman and the Authority v1 #1) Together they proceeded to recruit Steel, Apollo and Midnighter to rescue June Moone from a personal hell created when her fears were made real by the power of the Enchantress. (Superman and the Authority v1 #2) Apollo was sent to recruit Lightray who, unknowingly to him, had been kidnapped by Eclipso, he was then attacked by an enraged OMAC while Ultra-Humanite, with the body of Solomon Grundy infiltrated the Fortress of Solitude and subdued Superman. The rest of the Authority was attacked at Dubai by Coldcast; Fleur-de-Lis; Iron Cross and Siv. (Superman and the Authority v1 #3) At this point Superman, who was being kept prisoner inside of Kandor by Ultra-Humanite who wanted to implant his brain into his body, managed to get free and stall Ultra-Humanite long enough for Lois Lane to neutralize Grundy's plant-based body with White Kryptonite. Superman ripped of Grundy's head and used it to contact Brainiac, who was once again trying to take over the Earth with the help of the Ultra-Humanite. The rest of the team managed to defeat their opponents and Apollo with the help of June Moone and OMAC rescued Lightray from Eclipso. At the Fortress of Solitude OMAC decided to join the Authority to stay with Lightray and Superman told them about his plan to free Warworld. (Superman and the Authority v1 #4)

Members

• Jenny Sparks :
• Apollo :
• Midnighter :
• Swift :
• Jack Hawksmoor :
• Engineer :
• Doctor :
• Eminence of Blades :
• Superman :
• Manchester Black :
• Natasha Irons :
• Enchantress :
• Lightray :

Notes

• The Authority was created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch where they made their first appearance in The Authority v1 #1 (May, 1999).
• In an interview, Ellis commented that, "One of the reasons I turned their Stormwatch into The Authority is that I found out that, despite the fact that no-one was buying Stormwatch, they kept it going because they liked reading it in the [Wildstorm] office and wanted to keep me employed. And I felt so bloody awful about that, and at the same time had been so struck by Bryan Hitch’s Stormwatch issues, that the train of thought that led to The Authority began."
• In X-Man v1 #71 (2000), the issue by Marvel Comics showed a parody of the Authority called the People's Protectorate who occupied Earth-253 in the Multiverse.
• In Hulk v5 #2 (2021), the issue by Marvel Comics showed a parody of the Authority called the Alternate Universe Timeline Hazard Operations Response & Intervention Team Y (A.U.T.H.O.R.I.T.Y.) who were a multiversal team of superhumans that responded to threats to the Multiverse.

Appearances

• The Authority v1: (1999)
• Superman and the Authority v1:
• Action Comics v1:

External Links

• DC Database Entry

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