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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3_09.jpg]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350: Don't piss them off.[[note]]From left to right: Apollo, Swift, The Doctor, The Engineer with Jenny Quantum in her arms, Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, Midnighter [[/note]]]]
3
4->''"We're here to give you a second chance. To make a world worth living in.''\
5''We are The Authority. ''Behave.''"''
6-->-- '''Jenny Sparks'''
7
8Created by writer Creator/WarrenEllis and artist Creator/BryanHitch, ''The Authority'' took the standard superhero tropes and shook them up with a {{manga}}-influenced "widescreen" style that used splash pages and large panels to make the business of saving the world actually look impressive for once.
9
10The original series appeared in May, 1999 as a SequelSeries to the recently-cancelled ''ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}'', where most of the team members first appeared--during Warren Ellis' run--as members of the Stormwatch Black Team Division. Ellis started ''The Authority'' by blowing up UsefulNotes/{{Moscow}} and continued in suitably bombastic fashion, threatening the Earth with an imperialistic army from an alternate universe and a battle with [[GodIsEvil God]] itself. Hitch's detailed but kinetic panels conveyed the action with aplomb, and the series' style essentially spawned the trend for {{Decompressed Comic}}s.
11
12Later writers took the team in a slightly different direction. Picking up on the idea that the team originally formed to ''improve'' the world, not just save it, they had them executing dictators, defusing international crises and even pulling a coup d'etat on the US government itself. However, as StatusQuoIsGod, they have only rarely been able to effect any kind of serious change.
13
14The team's original members were:
15* '''Jenny Sparks''', "[[SuperheroSobriquets The Spirit of the 20th Century]]" (a woman who is reborn every 100 years, embodying that century's (or in past times, era's) central concept--in this case, [[ShockAndAwe electricity]]. She was the leader of Stormwatch's black-ops subteam, and assembled the Authority to continue their job on her terms).
16* '''Apollo''', "The Sun God" (a ComicBook/{{Superman}} pastiche with [[FlyingBrick powers of flight, indestructibility and laser vision]], and the Midnighter's lover. A SuperSoldier who became a PhlebotinumRebel from a Stormwatch splinter cell before reconciling with the main organization).
17* '''The ComicBook/{{Midnighter}}''', "Night's Bringer of War" (a ComicBook/{{Batman}} pastiche who can work out how to win a fight in his head before it's even begun; he is also Apollo's lover and later husband. He shared an origin with his partner).
18* '''The Doctor''', "The Shaman" (the mightiest magic-user on Earth and the latest in a long line of shamans to defend the planet; also an ex-junkie).
19* '''The Engineer''', "The Maker" (a woman whose blood was replaced by [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotechnology]], making her a ChromeChampion GadgeteerGenius who can create her gadgets at will).
20* '''Jack Hawksmoor''', "The King of Cities" (a man experimented on by aliens who were actually humans from the 70th century who has a symbiotic relationship with cities, granting SuperStrength and psychic abilities relating to a city and what happens within it. He was a member of Jenny's Stormwatch Black team).
21* '''Swift''', "The World's Greatest Huntress" (a woman with the ability to [[{{Animorphism}} grow wings and claws]], low-level FlyingBrick powers, and superhuman senses. Part of Jenny Sparks' Stormwatch team, and in fact the only character from pre-Ellis ''Stormwatch'' to survive into ''The Authority'').
22
23Both Jenny Sparks and The Doctor eventually died and [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute were replaced]] by {{Legacy Character}}s, Jenny's next incarnation (Jenny Quantum) and another Doctor, respectively. By 2007, the other members remained in the team, and other characters, such as '''Rose Tattoo''' (Another ex-Stormwatch member and the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Spirit of Murder]], transformed by the current doctor into the Spirit of Life), joined.
24
25As the series went on, the stories tended to get more and more outrageous, not to mention {{Anvilicious}}.
26
27Rather aggressively satirized in the Superman comic book ''ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay'' and its AnimatedAdaptation ''WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite'', in which their [[{{Expy}} Expies]] beat up Superman, who was concerned about both their violent methods and the pointlessness of killing them when they appear to be a symptom of the times rather than the cause of it... and then demonstrated that they shouldn't have made him mad.
28
29With the 2011 DC reboot, the Wildstorm characters were absorbed into the larger DC Universe, and the rebooted Authority characters became the core of a new Stormwatch. After their book ended in 2014, Midnighter went on to receive [[ComicBook/{{Midnighter}} his own solo title]], starting June 2015. The Wildstorm imprint would be revived with a brand new universe, with the first series, ''The Wild Storm'', featuring a new team akin to the Authority, though they don't call themselves by any particular name. In 2021, as part of the ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'' initiative, the title will be revived as a four-issue mini-series called ''ComicBook/SupermanAndTheAuthority'', which has the Man of Steel create his own team to help him liberate the alien slave world Warworld.
30
31In January 2023, Creator/JamesGunn and Peter Safran announced [[https://variety.com/2023/film/news/dc-universe-superman-legacy-batman-green-lantern-supergirl-booster-gold-1235507426/ a feature film]] centered on the team as part of a slate of film and television projects comprising their re-vamp of the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse. In addition, members of the team are set to appear in the Superman reboot film ''Superman: Legacy'' ahead of their own movie.
32
33If you’re looking for the WWE faction that began causing the downfall of the company, look [[Wrestling/TheAuthority here.]]
34
35----
36!! Authority-related series
37
38* "The Authority" vol. 1 (1999-2002). 29 issues.
39* "The Authority Annual" (2000). 1 issue.
40* "Jenny Sparks: The Secret History of the Authority" (2000-2001). 5 issues.
41* "The Authority: Kev" (2002). A one-shot, popular enough to gain sequels.
42* "The Authority" vol. 2 (2003-2004). 15 issues, numbering started with issue #0.
43* "The Authority: More Kev" (2004). 4 issues.
44* "The Authority: Revolution" (2004-2005). 12 issues.
45* "The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin" (2005-2006). 5 issues.
46* "The Authority" vol. 4 (2006-2007). 2 issues. Abortive attempt at relaunch. The project conflicted with the schedule of writer Creator/GrantMorrison and was abandoned.
47* "A Man called Kev" (2006-2007). 5 issues.
48* "Authority: Prime" (2007-2008). 6 issues.
49* "The Authority" vol. 5 (2008-2011). 29 issues.
50* "The Secret History of The Authority: Jack Hawksmoor" (2008). 6 issues.
51* "The Authority: The Lost Year" (2010). 10 issues. Continuation of vol. 4, starting numbering with issue #3.
52
53!! ''The Authority'' series contains examples of:
54
55* AfterTheEnd: The current state of the Wildstorm universe.
56* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: The Elite in the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' story ''ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay'' were essentially a stand-in for The Authority created by Wildstorm's parent company DC, their debut story having the purpose of spelling out how Superman's methods of heroics were far superior and the Authority were ultimately no better than their opponents.
57* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: The Authority basically assumed they were the baddest asses in the Wildstorm universe, and everyone ''else'' in the Wildstorm universe thought that way too. And then they met a guy named ComicBook/CaptainAtom...
58* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: Angie was a big superhero fan before becoming one herself.
59* AskAStupidQuestion: During Kaizen Gamorra's all out assault on Los Angeles we get this exchange between the Doctor and and Midnighter
60--> '''The Midnighter''': What happened to you?
61--> '''The Doctor''': I reforested Los Angeles.
62--> '''The Midnighter''': Ask a stupid question.
63* AttackPatternAlpha: When fleet of Sliding Albion attacks Los Angeles, their leader orders them to assume "Waterloo formation". Which, apparently, amounts to "[[HollywoodTactics just fly in every direction and blow up anything you see]]".
64* AuthorAvatar: During Mark Millar's run, Jack Hawksmoor was pretty much transformed into Millar's political mouthpiece. And he wasn't [[{{Anvilicious}} subtle about it either]].
65* ArtifactTitle: The later Kevin stories don't feature the Authority in the slightest despite being in the title.
66* AwesomenessByAnalysis: The Midnighter starts every battle by first running the whole thing through the supercomputer in his head a million times, analyzing every possible outcome, so he'll know precisely how the battle will go, and what he'll have to do. He's particularly fond of telling people that he's already beaten them a million times, so doing it once more will be simple.
67** He even puts this on a business card once in an effort to save time, This failed, as the card ended up getting punched into his forehead. Ouch.
68** This was rather effectively inverted in ''ComicBook/CaptainAtomArmageddon''. The Midnighter saw Captain Atom as just another target for a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Instead, Captain Atom treated the Midnighter to a total CurbStompBattle, showing that sometimes AwesomeByAnalysis is no match for raw, unadulterated, world-shaking power.
69** Also fails when a supervillain summons the ''Joker'' of all people. The Joker despite being human, is so psychotic and unpredictable that the only thing Midnighter can do is stand there... staring at him.
70* BadassBoast: The Midnighter ''loves'' delivering these.
71--> '''Midnighter:''' [''To a super powered goon''] Let me make this situation clear for you. I know what special abilities you have. I can see the enhancements. I can detect the increased electrical activity in your brain. I know what moves you're preparing to make. I've fought our fight already in my head, in a million different ways. I can hit you without you even ''seeing'' me. I'm what soldiers dream of growing into. I'm what children see when they first imagine what death is like. I'm the Midnighter. '''''Put the child down'''''.
72** Unfortunately, this gets flipped around later on, when [[BigBad Warrior King Regis]] delivers one of these to the Midnighter while simultaneously kicking his ass.
73--> '''Regis:''' I can see inside your head, white boy. Did you think your little fight enhancements would let you kill '''''me'''''? You've never fought anything like me, boy. I am '''''Regis'''''. I have been raping and killing better humans than you for half a millennium. ''That's it''. ''Fight me''. Try to '''hurt''' me. I've lost count of how many men's fingers and women's nails have shattered on my skin. Your mothers and sisters will bear my children. You cannot stop me. Burn Albion, burn Europe--it won't matter. I am '''Regis''', warrior king of this entire filthy planet--and I will wipe myself with your skin when I'm done violating '''''yours'''''.
74** Jenny Quantum takes after her adoptive dad in this regard, telling ComicBook/CaptainAtom who she is, pointing out that Quantum Physics ''replaced'' Nuclear Physics. Atom is mostly just bemused, and when she does go for him, [[spoiler: she gets vaporised, ''by accident'']].
75* BadassLongCoat: Midnighter wears one quite nicely.
76* BadassNormal: Averted rather sharply; unlike his inspiration, Midnighter is most definitely ''not'' a normal, but a cyborg SuperSoldier with a computerized brain and superhuman physical abilities.
77** For all his ButtMonkey status is played for laughs, Kev Hawkins is one of these. No, he doesnt stand a ghost's piss of a chance against superpowered opponents in a straight fight, but he's still a trained Special Forces agent who uses CombatPragmatist tactics for all they're worth.
78* BadassAndBaby: Midnighter and baby Jenny Quantum.
79* BadBoss: When the Authority is replaced with new corporate versions of themselves the groups new team leader The Colonel fits this trope perfectly. In sharp contrast to his predecessor Jenny Sparks, The Colonel is very open about his disdain for his fellow teammates. And has no problem with [[spoiler: dumping the corpse of his teammate Street out of The Carrier ship as if he was a piece of used up trash.]] But he saves the brunt of his mistreatment for poor Rush. Who he both physically and verbally abuses whenever she so much as questions his judgment.
80* BadFuture: Midnighter was shown a future where The Authority ruled the world in The Authority: Revolution. He ended up becoming a brutal, brain damaged dictator.
81* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: The Engineer, post-Ellis, as she needed to use her nanotech to create a helmet and breathing apparatus during his run. Quite possibly Midnighter himself, as he claims to be able to survive in anaerobic environments.
82** Midnighter is shown using a rebreather to [[spoiler: meet up with Apollo when he has to live over the cloud that blocks the sun]] in later issues. He did say he could ''briefly'' survive in such, so maybe it doesn't work for long term exposure.
83** Averted in the most badass way possible when Apollo is asked how he too can breathe in space:
84--->'''Apollo:''' I don't.
85--->'''The Engineer:''' Just like that?
86--->'''Apollo:''' Well, I'd look pretty silly if I tried, wouldn't I?
87* BestWoman: The Engineer appears to be filling this role for Apollo at his wedding to the Midnighter.
88* BewareTheNiceOnes: On a normal day, Apollo is easily the most [[TheCape pleasant and idealistic]] of the group; it's hard to make him truly furious. On the rare occasions it happens, though, his anger is a [[GameBreaker terrifying]], [[FlyingBrick city-wrecking]], [[KillItWithFire burninating]] sight to behold.
89* BewareTheSuperman: Between {{Knight Templar}}ish, brutally violent superheroes and supervillains that kill millions ForTheEvulz, {{Muggle}}s of Wildstorm universe live their lives in constant fear. You know it is bad, when the first reflexive reaction of the people upon seeing a previously-unknown super is to beg for mercy.
90* BlackAndGrayMorality: While the Authority tend to be violent and brutal, a lot of its villains are arguably orders of magnitude worse. Memorable examples include Kaizen Gamorra, who killed millions for fun, or Regis, who headed an empire on an alternate Earth that turned all of China into a ''rape camp''. It doesn't help that the leaders of the countries the Authority fight to protect have the habit of being revealed as morally bankrupt or outright stupid. Like when they created the G7 Authority and subjected the originals to horrific treatments. Or the US government who were easily manipulated into making a botched attempt to enter the Bleed, despite being warned this was a really bad idea, to try and exploit other worlds and killing the entire state of Florida.
91* BlackDudeDiesFirst: When the Midnighter [[spoiler:goes after the new G7 Authority his first victim is the team's only black member Street.]]
92* BloodyMurder: The Engineer can use the nanites in her blood to make just about anything.
93* BondVillainStupidity: When the cabal of wealthy private citizens that secretly run the world decide that they have finally had enough of the Authority and their attempts to change the status quo they send Seth, their ''Super'' SuperSoldier, to take the team down. Seth easily defeats and disables every one of the Authority without even smallest amount of difficulty, [[KillItWithFire firing]], [[IAmAHumanitarian consuming]] and [[StuffBlowingUp blowing them all to pieces]]... and then he hands them over to his superiors who do ''not'' kill the Authority, but instead decide to imprison and torture them for months instead of just executing them. Swift in particular is kept as a SexSlave and servant to one of the Cabal without any sort of security or monitoring after being [[{{Brainwashed}} conditioned]], so once she hears enough to learn how to defeat Seth she just kills the entire cabal and [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether gets the rest of the team together]].
94* {{Bowdlerize}}: The series got hit hard with this during Mark Millar's run. Certain panels that depicted extreme violence or suggestive material had to be altered or completely redrawn, in order to meet the publisher's discretion guidelines. Here are some of the more infamous examples:
95** The very first issue in which the Authority lays siege to Jakarta has all references to the name of the country removed. Instead it is simply identified as "somewhere in Southeast Asia". Interestingly the depiction of Jakarta's President Habibie is left intact. Presumably because the publisher believed that the readers wouldn't recognize him anyway.
96** In Issue 14 during The Authority's fight with a team of supervillains who are ''obviously'' modeled after famous Marvel heroes, red filters were added to obscure some of the more graphic kills. One particularly memorable example has The Engineer blowing up a Hulk Expy in space and then flipping him off. The redrawn panel obscures the gore with the aforementioned red filter and The Engineer is instead drawn flashing the palms-inverted version of the V sign. Which is the British equivalent of flipping the bird. Which makes no sense seeing as how The Engineer isn't even British.
97** Any depiction of then newly-elected President of the United States George W. Bush was removed and replaced with a nameless President who bore a striking resemblance to President Merkin Muffley from Dr. Strangelove. Which fits the over-the-top nature of the series quite appropriately.
98* BreakingSpeech: The Midnighter delivers a ''devastating'' one to a Iron Man analogue. It proves so effective that the Iron Man wannabe simply takes off his helmet, hands it to the Midnighter... and calmly ''walks away'' never to be seen or referenced ever again (although he sends Midnighter a thank you letter at the end of the storyline).
99--> '''Midnighter:''' The real question here is whether killing me is going to make you feel more worthwhile, or are you still going to that damp little cell you eat and sleep in. Will you still be alone tonight with your sexual power fantasies about the people who boss you around?
100--> '''Thug:''' Shut the hell up!
101--> '''Midnighter:''' I've been there, man. I know what it's like to be in one of those black ops units where you can't even remember your own name. I didn't have a conversation in years. Nobody cares if you live or die. If anything happens to you, they'll just make another one. Nobody's interested in what you've got to say. You're just a weapon with a larynx. God, you're probably forty years old and you've never even been held have you?
102* BreedingSlave: Regis heads an empire on an alternate Earth that turned all of China into a rape camp in an attempt to produce offspring for his dying race.
103* CallingCard: Kaizen Gamorra in the original storyline, symbolically drawing his family's symbol (a circle with three knots) on the Earth, with UsefulNotes/{{Moscow}}, UsefulNotes/{{London}}, and UsefulNotes/LosAngeles as the knots.
104* CanonDiscontinuity: Issues 23-26 of the original run (a Filler arc which starred the replacement Authority created after Seth dispatched the originals) were never referenced again, removed from collected volumes and featured ''very'' contradictory characterization.
105* TheCape: An analysis at [[http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.com/2010/06/challenge-of-super-friends-why-warren.html Too Busy Thinking About Comics]] points out that the heroes of the Authority under Ellis/Hitch, once the violence and counter culture are stripped from them, are closer to the oldest school superheroes, lacking even the sort of conflict introduced by Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four.
106* CerebusSyndrome: ''A Man Called Kev'', the last Kev arc. While it also has humorous elements like in the previous Kev arcs, the story is notably darker and more somber in tone. Also noteworthy is the fact that none of the Authority make an appearance in the arc.
107* AChildShallLeadThem: Jenny Quantum. She looks about 14, really about 8. Either way, she does her name proud.
108* CiviliansAreIrrelevant: The book goes both ways about this, both times [[NinetiesAntiHero applying hefty amounts of violence to achieve results]]:
109** The Authority likes to play world police and get rid of threats, and they give absolutely no shits about what the governments have to say (as the page image shows, one time some random passerby tries to ask Midnighter what is going on and the very next panel we see [[CurbStompBattle he's been knocked out and his arm broken]] because [[SociopathicHero Midnighter]] ''really'' HatesBeingTouched).
110** In one arc, the Authority discovers that some experiments the government did caused a dimensional distortion and the end of the world is one week away... and what they do is [[DoNotAdjustYourSet broadcast a world-wide message]] in which they threaten to hurt or kill any superheroes that try to fix this and order the governments to do so, because this is ''their'' shit they need to clean up. [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome We never find out how they did it, but the fact is that they did]].
111* ClarkKenting: Alluded to/averted.
112* CloseOnTitle: Each issue of the mini-series ''The Secret History of the Authority: Jack Hawksmoor''.
113* ClothingDamage: Apollo. This sort of thing happens to him in every. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Single. Fight.]]
114* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: The Engineer's nanites.
115* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Jenny Sparks is visually based on the model Kate Moss.
116* CorruptedCharacterCopy: The villains of Creator/MarkMillar's first arc were this for the heroes of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse with their boss being a twisted version of Creator/JackKirby who was initially willing to kill a baby. The Americans, the stand-ins for ComicBook/TheAvengers were led by a DepravedBisexual rapist version of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and the ComicBook/IronMan expy destroys the maternity ward of a hospital. The same arc also featured a bigoted version of Nick Fury who openly mentions his disdain for Mexicans, Asians, black people and the French. According to an issue of of ''Wizard Magazine'', this is also a case of one that pissed off the original franchise's owners, as Marvel ''wasn't'' happy about how they acted.
117* CorruptedContingency:
118** The G7 cabal who gave Seth his powers also made sure to install a TriggerPhrase[[note]]Welcome to the Oval Office, President Gore[[/note]] that would shut down his powers in the event they needed to remove Seth from play. The Authority learn of this phrase and Jenny Quantum speaks it to DePower him, removing the cabal's most dangerous weapon.
119** The Children of Gamorra have a fortress built to withstand a superhuman assault. The Authority lock them inside it and then destroy it with the Children of Gamorra still inside it.
120* CrapsackWorld: The team runs into these every now and then, like Sliding Albion, where humans and aliens have lived peacefully since the 16th Century, but went on so many world wars that most civilizations are destroyed, the world is literally poisoned, both races are slowly dying, China has been turned into a giant rape camp, and all is ruled by a mad dictator and mass murderer. Or the alternate Earth where a maniac called Adolf X had exterminated all non-black people on the planet and created a fascist dictatorship. Or the Earth where life is controlled by an EldritchAbomination that feeds on our life energy, its whole presence causes general misery to some people and occasionally makes them commit suicide or other horrible acts. Other than that, it's a world exactly like ours.
121* CurbStompBattle: In ''ComicBook/CaptainAtomArmageddon'', the team goes up against a guy who can swat them down like flies, and does so.
122* CureYourGays: John Clay makes unsuccessful attempts to "cure" Apollo and Midnighter of their homosexuality in the "Godhead" arc of Robbie Morrison's run.
123* DecompressedComic: TropeCodifier
124* DeepSouth: One of The Authority's worst foes was Seth, who was a personification of almost every rural stereotype in the book, given [[SuperpowerLottery 1,024 different superpowers]] and set on them by the G7 leaders. When he's finally defeated, they punish him by [[ForcedTransformation turning him into seven chickens]] and then [[BlackComedyRape bringing him home to his seven uncles]].
125* DependingOnTheArtist:
126** In the second volume of The Authority, halfway through there is a different artist, and everyone suddenly looks grittier, wrinkled, and pouty lipped. Jack Hawksmoore and Apollo are particularly victim to this in regards to making them look almost repugnant.
127** Midnighter's hair color seemed to switch with every artist. Eventually a writer just had him say he likes dying his hair.
128* DependingOnTheWriter: [[spoiler:Abnett and Lanning's 17-issue run showed the Authority in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, working closely with civilians to protect them from outside threats, risking their own lives when half of them had been BroughtDownToNormal, and generally being very human and relateable. Come January of 2010, and issue #18 by Bernardin and Freeman shows the Authority casually abandoning said civilians, including such gems as Midnighter wearing SpikesOfVillainy and beating up an old man who protests.]] MoodWhiplash ensues.
129* DestroyerDeity: Rose Tatoo, the incarnation of murder.
130* DisproportionateRetribution: Regis seems to be quite fond of this trope. He murders Windsor, the king of Albion (appointed by Regis himself) by crushing his skull - just because he ''verbally disrespected him''.
131* DoppelgangerLink: The Engineer has a mental link to the duplicates of herself she creates using her {{Nanomachines}}. She can create up to 82 duplicates, but going further will cause her personality to dissociate. The Engineer can also limit the mental connection between herself and her clones through concentration as seen by when she stopped herself and her other clones from experiencing an orgasm one clone had during sex with Jack.
132* ElectronicTelepathy: the radiotelepathy network the team uses.
133* EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Happens twice, the first time supposedly, because nothing really changes as a result and the whole event is quickly forgotten by writers, the second time for real, with Earth being reduced to a blasted wasteland, very laws of nature twisted, and most of the Authority depowered.
134* EvilCounterpart: After their defeat at the hands of Seth, the Authority was replaced by corporate versions of each member:
135** The Colonel, a violent, misogynistic British ex-footballer with electrical powers. (Jenny Sparks)
136** Street, an African-American gangster with golems formed from pavement (Jack Hawksmoor)
137** Rush, an inoffensive Canadian woman with wings (Swift)
138** Teuton, a bi-curious and overly emotional solar-powered German heavy (Apollo)
139** Last Call, a sadistic and homophobic Italian brawler (Midnighter)
140** The Surgeon, an amoral French alchemist, given control over the Doctor's powers
141** Machine, a callous Japanese woman using the Engineer's stolen blood
142* ExperimentedInCollege: The Engineer. In the "Green Inferno" arc, the renegade (and bluntly homophobic) ex-Doctor disdainfully challenges the team with the phrase "Poofs first". It's obviously aimed at Apollo and The Midnighter, but Angie steps forward first, with a cool:
143--> '''Engineer:''' Does a brief lesbian fling in college count, Doctor?
144* {{Expy}}:
145** Apollo and Midnighter fill roughly the same roles on their team as Superman and Batman, respectively.
146** WordOfGod, the villains of Ellis' three arcs:
147-->For those who need the cheat sheet, THE AUTHORITY was a twelve-episode superhero fiction series where the eponymous team fight Literature/FuManchu, [[Franchise/FlashGordon Ming the Merciless]] and God (dressed up as [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]]).
148* ExtradimensionalPowerSource: The Authority's ship is powered by a baby universe.
149* ExtremeOmnisexual: Swift. She once mentioned to a dumbfounded parallel version of herself that she will have sex with '''anyone''' she wants to. She even hits on her during their fight to emphasize that point.
150* {{Flanderization}}: The team became more and more sociopathic and homicidal as time passed, especially compared to Ellis' version. Usually justified by Jenny Sparks being a MoralityChain for the team.
151** Outright lampshaded during Ed Brubaker's Revolution mini, where it's stated Jenny Sparks would be revolted by what the group has become. The story eventually ends with Jenny Q and the Engineer acknowledging that they're back where they started, which was--in a meta sense--the entire point of the story; To return the Authority to the Ellis days and to give the team a moral and emotional anchor in the form of a Jenny old enough to boss them around again. Subsequent stories naturally ignored this and had the Authority as amoral psychos once more.
152* ForeignRulingClass: Sliding Albion is part of an alternate reality in which an alien race called the Blue conquered Italy prior to its formal unification, intermarried with the various ruling families, and then used the resulting mix of political, military, and technological might to take over the rest of the world. Consequently, Albion has a twofold foreign ruling class, as they are taking orders from Italians who are in turn taking orders from the Blue.
153* FriendToAllChildren: Kids ''love'' Midnighter, [[RuleOfCool probably because they can spot a badass a mile away]]. For his part, Midnighter's pretty fond of kids, especially Jenny Quantum.
154** [[PapaWolf He is especially brutal to those who harm children]], and given Midnighter's brutality on normal criminals, that's [[CruelAndUnusualDeath saying something.]]
155** He also [[WouldntHurtAChild refuses to harm children,]] to the point of refusing to go back in time and kill ''Hitler'' while he was in his infancy. This was after his severe reluctance to kill the infant [[OmnicidalManiac Jenny Fractal]], no matter how necessary it was, so it may be the reason he's unwilling to cross that line again just to save his own life.
156* GeniusLoci: All cities, as long as Jack's there to talk to them.
157* GetBackInTheCloset: In a textbook example of this trope, a panel depicting Apollo and Midnighter kissing was censored, while apparently Apollo getting raped by another man is just fine, as long as it's not pictured.
158* AGodAmI: Jenny Sparks was never known for her humility, but [[spoiler: her [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flipping off God]] crosses the line into this when she says that the Earth is "under new management".]]
159* GooGooGodlike: Jenny Quantum's reality-bending powers manifest when she's about three days old, and she immediately starts using them to help the Authority.
160* GrievousHarmWithABody: This quote from Jack says is all that needs to be said.
161--> '''Jack Hawksmoor:''' You realize you're talking to a man with a human head in his hands who has every intention of using it to beat these people to death?
162* HayseedName: Seth Angus Billy Cletus Bubba Jamie Clement Cowie is unsurprisingly a hillbilly.
163* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Swift can, uh, fly! And grow claws! But these powers are actually very effective since she is fast and strong enough to tear apart jet fighters from other dimensions and [[SuperSpeed Speedsters]].
164** Especially true in the post Number of the Beast setting: Swift is now one of two Authority members (the other being Midnighter) whose powers still function reliably. [[spoiler: Jenny Quarx and the Doctor are missing or presumed dead.]] Consequently, she's now tied for the position of most effective member of the group.
165* HeroInsurance: The Authority are one of the few superhero teams who acknowledge that the massive collateral damage from their battles can and probably has caused civilian casualties. The general understanding is that it's an unfortunate but necessary evil, since allowing their enemies to rampage unchecked would cause even more death and destruction. It's also worth noting that they try to limit the damage when possible, such as evacuating civilians and fencing in the combat zone, and are frequently on hand afterwards to help with the emergency services dealing with the aftermath.
166* HerosEvilPredecessor: One of Doctor Jeroen Thornedike's predecessors, known only as the Renegade Doctor, was an OmnicidalManiac. After Jeroen suffered a heroin overdose during a crisis, the Authority was forced to restore his predecessor's powers in order to fix the crisis. Luckily for them, in the intervening years, the Garden of Ancestral Memory had added "empathy with all living things" to the list of powers that came with the job, which overwhelmed the Renegade Doctor, distracting him long enough for the Authority to finally kill him.
167* HillbillyIncest: The [[InbredAndEvil monstrous]] Three-Willy Seth is supposedly the product of a bunch of hillbillies gang-raping their sister.
168* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: The first story arc of Midnighter's 2007 solo series is about him being coerced into going back in time and killing Adolf Hitler.
169* HitmanWithAHeart: Kev Hawkins.
170* HollywoodTactics: This seems to be the only reason why modern jet fighters are losing the battle against the fleet of Sliding Albion. Despite their futuristic outlook and ability to fire [[EnergyWeapon laser tic-tacs]], the latter ones are visibly inferior to former ones in every way, courtesy of SchizoTech. They have crude avionics that still rely solely on gauges, no computerized interface nor guidance systems, primitive flight suits akin to those used in first half of twentieth century (which would greatly limit the pilot's ability to withstand the pressure caused by acceleration force - and thus, hinder the speed and maneuverability of the aircraft itself) and can fire their weapons only in line of sight like [=WW2=] fighters. Modern jets, that can take out a target from beyond visual range and whose pilots are greatly assisted by sophisticated computer systems, should make short work on such machines. Instead, they fight the Sliding Albion craft at ''suicidally'' close quarters, basically setting themselves up to be shot down and apparently make zero use of guidance systems, firing their missiles completely blindly. Suffice to say, this is ''absolutely'' not how modern fighters would operate.
171** What makes the above more egregious is that this scene could be a refreshing change where modern, real-world military is capable of fighting supernatural threat at least to a degree. Instead, they are deliberately made incompetent, just so the Authority could pull off their BigDamnHeroes moment as usual, and show once again how the world is totally helpless without them and reliant on their protection.
172* HolyHalo: Apollo, whose halo gets dimmer when weak and brighter after a good sunbath.
173* HomeworldEvacuation: The Authority do this in one arc, evacuating the planet's entire population so as to cause less collateral damage when fighting a superpowered villain.
174* HostileTerraforming: The Authority battles God ("The Outer Dark" issues 9-12). Earth's creator is a moon-sized alien being that created the planet as a retirement home. Since Earth's creation, changes to its orbit and ecosystem led to the rise of life as we know it, instead of somewhere its creator would be comfortable. God immediately sets about "fixing" that.
175* HulkMashUp: A nameless version briefly appears (alongside other Avengers-ripoffs) in one arc, and is dispatched when he latches on to the Engineer by flying high enough in the atmosphere that he suffers ExplosiveDecompression.
176* HumongousMecha: Jack Hawksmoor can turn ''entire cities'' into this.
177* IHaveAFamily: One super powered mook tried using this on the Midnighter. Emphasis on ''tried''. What's the Midnighter's respond? ''He slices the man's head off with a staff'', and quips: "They're better off without you!"
178* ImpliedRape: The Commander's rape of the nurses of the hospital where Jenny Quantum was born and Apollo was handled like this. The former with Hornet questioning "He's not really gonna do them, is he?" and Tank Man confirming it and the latter with his standing over Apollo and adjusting his belt afterward. It should also be noted that the former case is the result of DC's interference as the original dialogue for the scene does have Hornet outright ask Tank Man if Commander was going to rape them[[note]]the latter bit was also changed, but the only difference was the Commander's belt buckle was still undone[[/note]].
179* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite being a depraved rapist and an overall unpleasant individual, The Commander was valid in stating how absurd it is for the Authority, a group made up of seriously flawed and damaged individuals, to think they would have the right to tell the rest of the world how to live their lives under the guise of building a "better world".
180* {{Jobber}}: There was a period where the Authority didn't have their own ongoing series, yet were still supposed to be the most powerful superhero team of their Earth. This led to the team only being used so that they could be jerks to the protagonists of other series, then swatted down to show off how cool those other heroes were. Examples include ''Stormwatch: Team Achilles'', and Creator/GailSimone's ''ComicBook/{{Gen 13}}'' (where they substitute "[[HeelRealization realize what jerks they're being]]" for "swatted down"). Notably ''not'' the case in ''ComicBook/CaptainAtomArmageddon'', where they were portrayed as the badasses they are... it's just they were up against [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter a bigger Badass than they were]].
181* KnightInSourArmor: Jenny Sparks.
182* KnightTemplar: The heroes kill or threaten to kill anyone who opposes them.
183* LegacyCharacter: Quite a few. Angie's the second Engineer, a new Doctor is made every time the old one dies, and a different Jenny is born to every age of mankind.
184* LegCling: Kev receives one from Midnighter and his evil boss on one of the Kev covers. He does not look in the slightest bit pleased.
185* LightningBruiser: At least half the team. Jenny Sparks was choosy.
186* LivingPolyhedron: God takes the form of a [[PyramidPower pyramid]] large enough to house ecosystems capable of supporting advanced civilizations in its ''bowels''.
187* MadeOfPlasticine: Most anyone Midnighter gets his hands on. In one case he ''rips a guy's skull and spine right out''.
188** Actually seems to be even more pronounced with Jack Hawksmoor, at least in the earlier series when it was a more ensemble book, not so much Midnighter and Friends. Midnighter, brutal as he is, does use finesse; Jack just wails away with his superstrength. He kicks guys' spines out on ''several'' occasions.
189* ManlyGay: Apollo and Midnighter, especially the latter.
190* MartialPacifist: Swift. She's a self-admitted Buddhist and strictly abhors violence despite using it for the reason that doing so would prevent the occurrence of more violence and death. However, later issues shows that she is a Buddhist in name only as she displays a devil-may-care attitude to killing opponents regardless of threat level and a willingness to have anonymous sex with anyone with comedic consistency.
191* MightMakesRight: The Authority, at their worst, believes being the most powerful superhuman team on Earth allows them to do whatever they please whenever they wish. Especially when they have [[RealityWarper Jenny Sparks and the Doctor]] on their roster.
192* MonumentalDamage: The series really ''loves'' this trope. The first few panels of the very first issue depicts the Kremlin as well as most of Moscow being blown to kingdom come by an army of superhuman clones. Whom later go on to attack London and blow up Big Ben. All of which happens in the ''first issue.''
193* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Jeroen. Every other Doctor as well. In fact, the only Doctor who is explicitly confirmed to have actually been a doctor(he was a heart surgeon) was an OmnicidalManiac who had the position of The Doctor revoked.
194* MostCommonSuperpower: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]. Swift makes no secret of her "twenty-grand boob job".
195* MotherNatureFatherScience: Inverted. The Doctor is in tune with the whole universe and deeply tied to nature, and is AlwaysMale; Jenny, reborn to every age of mankind, embodies that age's dominating technological advancement, and is AlwaysFemale.
196* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the above-mentioned IntercontinuityCrossover. [[spoiler: Nice job blowing up the universe and causing the cosmic reboot, The Authority.]]
197** Also Jenny Sparks in her mini solo series.[[spoiler: Apparently during her brief time in Austria she felt sympathetic for a young artist trying to sell self-made postcards to passers-by. She decided to tell the poor lad he had absolutely no talent for art and should just stop trying. She thought he DID have a talent for rhetoric and therefore advised him to try politics. The said artist's [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler name]]? [[OhCrap Yeah]]]].
198* NightAndDayDuo: Apollo and Midnighter, a married couple. Apollo is a SupermanSubstitute whose FlyingBrick[=/=]energy manipulation powers are fueled by [[ThePowerOfTheSun solar energy]], while ComicBook/{{Midnighter}} is an AwesomeByAnalysis cybernetic cowled vigilante.
199* NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech: When under the writing of Warren Ellis the series featured quite a few memorable examples of these.
200--> '''The Engineer''': "I fight people. Go to war. I don't have experiments, I have things that need to be solved or people die. I don't drink gin and bitter lemon until I fall over, I don't have sex with my ex-boyfriend every Thursday, I don't eat clams on Mulberry Street. I'm not Angie any more. I'm the Engineer."
201--> '''Jack Hawksmoor''': "So why do you do it?"
202--> '''The Engineer''': "Because somebody needs to."
203** Later on during Warren Ellis' final arc on the series Jenny Sparks delivers one to [[spoiler: ''god himself'']]
204---> '''Jenny Sparks''': "I don't know if you can hear me out there. I don't even know if you even have a language. But here's the deal. It took me a long time to work out what I was here for, and here at the end of the century I finally sorted it out. I'm here to save the earth. I'm here to get us all through the century. You might think this planet behind us is yours to use, but here's the news: this earth is under new management. ''This world is'' '''mine.'''"
205* NominalHero: The team started out as extremely violent against potential world-ending threats, and was perfectly willing to kill thousands of invading superhuman terrorists, or cause extreme collateral damage and loss of innocent lives in doing so. However, this is no different from the actions of regular soldiers, and could initially have been argued as type III, as they were extremely benevolent in other respects: such as helping to clear up the disaster zones after any conflict; feeding and hosting millions of war refugees, or victims of other disasters; protecting them from militias; freeing them from tyrannies through much less human casualties than a standard military could manage (through outgunning scare tactics); reforming supergenius criminals to help their research for cures to various diseases or life-improving technologies; and overall genuinely making the world a better place. However, later writers who didn't like the themes arguably severely flanderised and tried to twist around the more idealistic notes that Ellis introduced, so among other things the team was tricked into "overthrowing the government of the US, and briefly taking over".\
206However, the actions of the team during their takeover of the United States definitely lean towards the Nominal Hero sobriquet of their team, especially since Jack Hawksmoor had ordered two buildings to morph in order to help an injured Swift while blatantly saying he didn't care that the civilians inside the buildings would most likely be killed.
207* OhCrap: ''Don't'' cross Midnighter (or worse, hurt Apollo), or you ''will'' wear this expression. For either two seconds or until your face rots off.
208** A prime example is when [[spoiler: Apollo is subdued and then raped by a member of a government-sponsored superteam given the directive to neutralize The Authority. In a later confrontation this same super is paralyzed from the waist down by Apollo and the last we see of him is a look of horror on his face as The Midnighter stands over him with an evil grin, holding a rusty, but operational jackhammer.]] Make whichever Dr. Horrible references you deem appropriate.
209** And many more, such as Kaizen Gamorra watching as the Midnighter pilots the Carrier on a collision course with his skyscraper fortress in the first arc.
210** This was the look on ''Midnighter's'' face, right before ComicBook/CaptainAtom tosses an unconscious Apollo at him in ''ComicBook/CaptainAtomArmageddon''.
211* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Alternate universe Authority versions.
212-->'''Midnighter:''' Well, how does it feel to see yourself [[GenderFlip with breasts and six months pregnant with a little baby Hawksmoor]], Jack?
213-->'''Jack Hawksmoor:''' Kind of glad I never stuck around to meet the father.
214* OutsideContextProblem: Most of the major arc opponents are these. They come upon the Authority unprepared and hand them their own asses, then the Authority work out how to deal with them, and return the favour.
215* OvershadowedByAwesome: Swift is frequently this compared to her teammates, despite having powers roughly equivalent to Hawkgirl, who frequently holds her own amongst the rest of the JLA.
216* PaidForFamily: In a decidedly creepy variation, in one story that has The Authority replaced by Heroic Sociopath Captain Ersatz-es, the Engineer has all her nanomachines removed and is brainwashed, then placed in a "family" of evil children and an abusive husband (all actors), [[HappinessInSlavery that she will be conditioned to never leave or go against despite the abuse they heap on her]].
217* ParodyEpisode: The eighth issue of "The Lost Year", where the Authority visit an AlternateUniverse which is essentially a FusionFic with ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational. Alternate Swift is TheIngenue as a pastiche of "[[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Whitebread-excuse us-Marvel]]", while that universe's Apollo and Midnighter are [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday Have-We-Mentioned-We-Are-Heterosexual]]-[[TransparentCloset Today]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners Life Partners]] who always have a half-baked GetRichQuickScheme in mind (although they're still preparing to adopt Jenny Quantum together).
218* PayEvilUntoEvil: Makes no mistake: the Authority will treat their enemies as bad or worse than those same enemies do other people. Midnighter slammed the Carrier into Kaizen Gamorra, and the Authority's response to the Blue's invasion of their Earth is to go to the Earth the Blue took over and destroy its London and Italy. One infamous incident [[spoiler:had implied Apollo was raped by a ComicBook/CaptainAmerica {{expy}}. After Apollo crippled him, his lover Midnighter, walked up to the man holding a jackhammer, implying he intended to use it to return the favor.]]
219* PetTheDog: An '''''extremely rare''''' [[BloodKnight Midnighter]] example. When an Iron Man {{Expy}} is about to execute him, Midnighter is able to talk him out of it (''which is a feat unto itself'') while delivering an extremely effective BreakingSpeech that proves so effective that the Iron Man {{Expy}} is left a psychological train wreck. Cut to the next panel, where we see the Midnighter and the goon actually embracing one another with a hug. Even [[SociopathicHero Jack]] is impressed.
220-->'''Hawksmoor:''' We're supposed to be killing these militaristic scumbags, not bonding with them. Take him out!\
221'''Midnighter:''' Why bother? He's already shattered into a thousand pieces.
222* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Creator/MarkMillar's first arc had Midnighter admit out-loud that he was a racist after getting tired of dealing with some refugees the team had taken on. To be fair though, they had been sharing the Carrier with ''thousands'' of dirt-poor refugees for quite some time at that point, and the statement read more like Midnighter wanted them gone because the overpopulation stress caused him to have thoughts about these people that he wasn't proud of, making him realize his subconscious racism. He wasn't casually flinging racist slurs around or anything like that.
223* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain:
224** Seth being [[DeepSouth a laundry list of every negative rural stereotype you can think of]] evidently includes being homophobic and racist, as he mocks Apollo and Midnighter for being gay and, when talking down to Jack Hawksmoor, belittles the Authority's methods of superheroics while stereotyping black people as "purse-snatchers" and referring to them using the N-word.
225** The G7 version of The Authority gives us The Colonel. A repugnant, misogynistic, xenophobic asshole and damn proud of it. He even attempts to rape his teammate Rush when she makes it clear she's not attracted to men. And then there's ''Last Call'', a reactionary homophobe who takes sadistic glee in beating the crap out of Apollo and taunting him over the unlikelihood that Apollo's boyfriend Midnighter survived Seth's attack.
226** If somebody says anything even remotely homophobic in the [[ComicBook/TheAuthority Midnighter's]] comic book series, they're evil. Period. Sole exception is Kev, who [[CharacterDevelopment in the end admits to himself]] he repeats homophobic slurs, because he got his idea how tough guys should act from TV and movies.
227** The Renegade Doctor is racist (he downplays his massacre of 12 million people by dismissing that most of his victims were "Sambos"), homophobic (he calls Midnighter and Apollo "poofs" and "queens") and misogynist (he uses his powers to go back in time and molest the Engineer when she was a teenager, then returns with a PostRapeTaunt).
228** The CorruptedCharacterCopy of Nick Fury from Millar's first arc proudly boasted about his racism and xenophobia while he attacked Paris, gloating that he considered French people to be even less human than Mexicans, Asians and black people.
229** In the "Godhead" arc of Robbie Morrison's run, the villain is John Clay, founder of a religious movement called the Church of Transcendence. His plan involves wiping out proponents of other religions and [[CureYourGays attempting to cure Midnighter and Apollo of their homosexuality]].
230** ''The Authority: Revolution'' begins with the Authority clashing with the Sons of Liberty, a group of nationalistic reactionaries whose member Johnny Rocketman even insults the Chinese Swift using racial slurs. They turn out to be pawns of Henry Bendix, whose minion Samson has a fight with Apollo where he addresses him using a certain homophobic slur rhyming with "maggot".
231* PortalDoor: How the Authority come and go.
232* PostRapeTaunt:
233** The Commander mocked Apollo and the Authority after raping him.
234** Likewise, the Renegade Doctor, after returning from raping a high school-aged Angela, mocked the Engineer with what he did to her.
235* PowerCreepPowerSeep: While the Authority have always been heavy hitters, they all had reasonable limitations when written by Ellis, such as Angie's limited supply of nanoblood to use as weaponry and Jack's inability to survive outside of a city. Millar ignored this entirely when he took over and gave several characters new powers to boot, and almost all later writers have kept them at their new power level or higher.
236* PropheticNames: Jenny Sparks, Jenny Quantum.
237* ProportionatelyPonderousParasites: Inside the god-like pyramid creature... which has developed into a full civilization!
238* RabbleRouser: In one iteration, the team fought against a group of patriotic heroes who were essentially expies of DC's Freedom Fighters. Among these was the Uncle Sam expy Paul Revere, whose powers included the ability to rile up crowds.
239* RankScalesWithAsskicking: When the Authority takes control of the United States of America, they still continue their normal crime-fighting while running the country.
240* RapeAndRevenge:
241** As mentioned below, the Commander raped Apollo. The last we see of him, it's implied that Midnighter intends to return the favor--with a jackhammer. Likewise, Midnighter saved Apollo when Teuton tried to do it himself.
242** Arguably the deaths of the Rengades Doctor and G7 Authority fall into this, given the former went back in time to sexually assault the Engineer during their fight and the latter, in addition to Teuton's actions, were party to Engineer and Swift being brainwashed into sex slaves.
243* RapeAsDrama:
244** During the arc about Sliding Albion, it's revealed that several countries of the eponymous alternate Earth were turned into rape camps.
245** The Commander, a CorruptedCharacterCopy of Captain America does this to a couple of nurses during a mission to find [[spoiler: the infant Jenny Quantum]] and then [[spoiler: Apollo after Thor expy Storm-God knocked him down and drains some of his solar charge via [[ShockAndAwe a lightning strike]]]]. This results in Midnighter being pissed and the aforementioned OhCrap example and it's implied that Midnighter's going to return the favor and [[spoiler: use the jackhammer to rape Commander back.]]
246** During the G7 Authority arc, Swift and the Engineer both get brainwashed and handed over to men they would normally loathe as a SexSlave and an abused wive, respectively. It happens off-screen, but both of them were clearly stated to have been used for sex without their consent many times. Needless to say, Swift is very, very angry once her brainwashing breaks down, and the first thing she does [[spoiler: after killing her abuser is freeing the Engineer from hers.]] Also, Apollo was [[AttemptedRape almost raped]] again during this storyline, this time by his bi-curious replacement Teuton who'd been using him as a punching bag for weeks. Thankfully, Midnighter arrived just in time to put a construction bolt through the bastard's brain.
247%%* RedemptionEarnsLife
248* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Lampshaded and averted. The Engineer, in particular, spends a lot of time making multiple copies of herself and spreading them around the world so she can simultaneously build wind farms, address the UN, research cures for diseases, etc., and Habib's first act upon becoming [[spoiler:the Doctor]] was to create peace in the Middle East.
249* ReluctantWarrior: When Jenny formed the Authority, Jack and Shen had to adjust to the fact that it would often be necessary to kill their enemies. The former was extremely reluctant to kill and was disgusted by the two times he had to do so during his time in Stormwatch, while the latter was highly spiritual and preferred to avoid violent solutions whenever there was any other option. This... didn't last that long, mainly due to ItGetsEasier and different writers.
250* RingsOfActivation: While searching for survivors in the third issue of the original series, The Doctor casts a spell to move some rubble out of the way. When this happens a ring of mystical symbols materializes around his arms.
251* RuleOfEscalatingThreat: First, they went up against a terrorist organization with the numbers and power to attack three major cities in the course of a few days. Then, they took on an enemy that had conquered an alternate reality Earth and turned an entire country into a rape camp. Then they took on ''God''. Then...
252* SapientShip: The Carrier a spaceship that, while being made of metal, is fully sapient. However, it has only once spoken directly to anyone (and then it was only to tell hapless assassin Kev Hawkins what a prick he is).
253* SchizoTech: The Sliding Albion is built on this trope. It fields military aircraft armed with laser weaponry next to traditional (horse-riding) cavalry armed with sabres. And the aircraft themselves, although futuristic on the outside, look somewhat obsolete inside, featuring simple gauges instead of modern computers and outdated flight suits that are apparently still made of animal hide. Also, their society has a visible Victorian Era England vibe.
254* SketchySuccessor: Jack Hawksmoor is not Jenny Sparks. Sparks was, for all her faults, honestly trying to make a better world; under her leadership, the team were a bunch of ruthless bastards but could still look in the mirror at the end of the day and call themselves heroes. Hawksmoor is the biggest JerkAss on the team, and with him in charge, they were barely any better than their enemies, with no concern whatsoever for collateral damage or civilian lives.
255* SkipTheAnesthetic: The Midnighter goes through surgery in one issue, and remains awake the whole time.
256* SlasherSmile: The Midnighter.
257* ShockAndAwe: Jenny Sparks' electricity based powers. Which also plays into her being the "spirit of the twentieth century" and all that.
258* ShoutOut: Many
259** "This some kind of [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxter green eco]] thing, isn't it?" [[spoiler: No.]]
260** When Midnighter was turned into an enemy against the rest of the team, he managed to sneak into the Carrier Lab and put on a metallic formfitting suit which he used to beat Apollo to a pulp in a manner reminiscent to Batman fighting Superman in ''The Dark Knight Returns''.
261* ShutUpHannibal: At the end of the ''Revolution'' arc, the BigBad is bragging that his control over the world has made it a better place. The Midnighter responds by tearing off his head, ripping out his spine in the process, in a manner that would make ''Mortal Kombat'' envious, with the words:
262--> '''Midnighter:''' Well then I guess I just don't give a ''shit''.
263* SociopathicHero: Emphasizing the "Sociopathic" more as time went on, see the Designated Hero entry above.
264** ...but the emphasis on the "Sociopath" has ''always'' been true about the Midnighter. He's a killer all the way through, and he never pretends to be anything else.
265*** In his own series, he crosses the [[MoralEventHorizon Horizon]] with a particularly [[ToThePain cringe-worthy torture session]], showing himself to be a villain who happens to fight villains.
266* SpinOff: ''The Authority'' features many of the characters, plot elements, and themes from Ellis' revamp of ''Stormwatch''.
267* SplashPanel: The series was famous for this, especially during Bryan Hitch's stint as artist.
268* StrawmanPolitical: Pretty much any politician who appears in the series will be portrayed as one of these. The more opposed they are to the team the more straw they get. They were ''very'' apparent during Mark Millers run, whenever he needed to get a point across. Made especially pretentious when the politician actually [[StrawmanHasAPoint does have a logically sound argument]] yet is dismissed either way. Usually with some sort of lame rebuttal.
269* {{Stripperiffic}}: The Engineer's aforementioned skintight nanosuit is ''very'' skintight.
270* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: As a result of power creep in the series, what The Doctor can do is limited solely by whatever the plot requires at the moment. Authors often try to portray him as a GlassCannon to counter his effective omnipotence and invincibility, but come on, when you are explicitly stated and shown to have enough mojo to ''create and destroy universes'', concocting some sort of personal shield shouldn't be particularly hard.
271** It was explicitly [[LudicrousGibs and graphically]] confirmed that complete dismemberment isn't enough to kill a Doctor, seen when the Renegade Doctor temporarily regained the powers. He'll just pull himself back together like nothing happened, so any frailty that a Doctor shows is entirely their own failing and not a real weakness.
272*** This is what originally kept Jeroen from overshadowing the rest of the team. He tended to be either wacked out on heroin or suffering from severe lack of confidence, plus a requirement for his reality shifts to be largely nature-based. Unfortunately later writers got rid of those flaws.
273* SuperpowerLottery: Jenny Quantum and The Doctor.
274** Although best embodied by the villain Three-Willy Seth: a government conspiracy spent billions of dollars cramming every enhancement they could come up with into him. He has powers numbering in the ''quadruple digits.'' Some of them are hard to even conceive of--his mention of "nuclear poop vision" was ''probably'' a joke, but he did use something to blast Jack Hawksmoor through a wall in the very next panel.
275*** 1,204 powers, to be exact, although he exaggerates that to 2,012.
276* TakeThat: Mark Millar's first arc took this to a ridiculous extreme by fighting (and utterly destroying) satirical versions of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the X-Men and the main villain being Creator/JackKirby; he's specifically described as "the guy who would've created all your favorite comic books" if he hadn't been hired by the US government. The series as a whole has ''a lot'' of AuthorAppeal, and they're not subtle about it either. The authors explained this was a deliberate poke at traditional superheroes who they felt embodied and maintained the status quo. He even takes shots at Charles Atlas bodybuilding ads. Also;
277--> '''[[LawyerFriendlyCameo Legally-distinct-parody-of]] [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]]:''' Comics are for retards.
278--> '''Hawksmoor:''' (to UsefulNotes/BillClinton) We're not some comic book super-team who participate in pointless fights with pointless super-criminals every month to preserve the status quo.
279** Speaking of Clinton, Millar hated him, and so his run on the series and the Jenny Sparks mini-series had several jabs against him. One of the issues of the mini-series even goes so far as to implicitly compare Clinton to '''''Adolf Hitler'''''.
280** At one point, Midnighter gives us his personal opinion on ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
281--> '''Midnighter:''' You watching ''Friends''? Is it "the one where Phoebe really gets on your nerves" or "the one where you realized they're all thirty five and actually kind of creepy"?
282* TastesLikeDisdain: During an arc where Swyft is brainwashed into being a housewife in an abusive marriage, we see her "husband" put out his cigarette in the food she just brought him.
283* ThouShaltNotKill: Averted with extreme prejudice.
284* TimeTravelingJerkass: When the Renegade Doctor discovers that his new powers include time travel, he goes back in time and molests the Engineer when she was a teenager.
285* TokenGoodTeammate: When the Authority is replaced with a new corporate sponsored team that consists of seven representatives from the worlds seven richest nations. The Canadian representative Rush falls neatly into this trope. Unlike the rest of her teammates who are depicted as sadistic, power hungry, amoral assholes. She is the only one who is shown to have any sense of morality and decency.
286* TokenMinority: Swift, the sole non-white member in the team. ''Relentlessly mocked and lampshaded'' in Garth Ennis' run.
287--> '''Swift:''' [''singing''] Now I have often... Heard it spoken... That on this team I'm... just a token... The rest are white, but it's okay, because not one but two are gay... It sure can leave you feeling poor, when you're ethnicity du jour... When you're an ''Asian chick''... Asian ''chick''! way I get used it ''makes me sick''! Trapped here with this ''bunch of dicks''! Just cause I'm an Asian chick... Hollywood gets terrified when black men kiss white girls, as if two people fucking could somehow end the world but all Caucasian action's really not the wisest choice, so I get drafted in to please the goddamned village voice... 'cause I'm an ''Asian chick''... Asian chick! How the hell did I get picked? Who pulled this lousy rotten trick? On this poor Asian chick...? They always tell me that I should be played by Lucy Liu, But don't they know I saw '''''[[PrecisionFStrike Ecks versus fucking Sever too?]]''''' I'm stuck wit the Authority up here in space so high, my only girlfriend looks a bit like early CGI... It's no fun for an Asian chick... '''Asian chick'''! I should just leave this team of ''pricks''! Escape to live free double quick! Free to be... '''''An Asian... CHIIIIICK...'''''
288* ThrowTheDogABone: Kev in his last story arc. He is blackmailed into leaving the UK for good with an old pornographic movie he once filmed in his youth with a now-famous German porn star, and his last two surviving buddies and teammates Bob and Danny are both killed. On the other hand, he manages to avenge their deaths and begins a new life in the States growing cannabis and caring for Danny's tiger with his new girlfriend.
289* TragicVillain: Rush from the G7 Authority. She only accepted the job and the surgery to give her wings because her father pressured her into it. Then within the team she is bullied, and verbally abused by the Colonel. Yet, she is the one member of the team who actually tries to do good and improve other people's lives. Alas, it does not save her from being nailed to a wall by Midnighter. She may even qualify as TheWoobie of the team.
290* TrophyWife: When a group of {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s kidnap and brainwash the Authority, this is the fate of Swift, who is creepily "given" to one of the men behind the scheme. [[DidntThinkThisThrough It turns out that keeping one of their victims nearby and alive in this way isn't such a good idea]] once the brainwashing is inevitably undone.
291* TrappedOnTheAstralPlane: One arc had a supervillain's organization kidnap baby Jenny, them and their base overlapping with New York while being invisible and intangible explained away as existing at different vibrational frequencies.
292* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: When Midnighter is tasked with killing Hitler he actually finds he can't do it because the time he was sent to was the last days of the war. Hitler didn't look like one of histories greatest monsters. He looked like a tired and defeated old man. The time travelers Midnighter is traveling with tell him that most tend to react like him when they confront the worst people in history aren't monsters of supervillains, but just people.
293* UrineTrouble: The eighth issue of the 2007 ''Midnighter'' series ends with Midnighter adopting a cyborg dog as his pet. Said dog then pees on Jack Hawksmoor's feet.
294* UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: Issue #0 of the second volume has the Authority fighting an invasion from Viceworld, a a world-sized casino and pleasure complex catering to people across the multiverse, whose owner, Madorra Chance, is trying to make money off people betting on whether or not the Authority can win. Madorra sends a bomb capable of destroying an entire continent at the Authority but they use their portal technology to send it back to her, blowing up a section of Viceworld.
295* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: The Authority rationalizes that their harsh methods are necessary to make the world a better place.
296* VictorySex: [[spoiler:Engineer beds the Doctor after the team manages to defeat his OmnicidalManiac predecessor, partly to encourage the Doctor to get off of drugs (as his heroin addiction was responsible for his predecessor's resurgence in the first place) and to get back at her boyfriend, who decided to celebrate the victory by cheating on her.]]
297* VillainousBSOD: The ''Earth Inferno'' arc, sees our heroes forced to give the previous Doctor (''a mass murderer'') his powers back for an hour, during which he one-handedly thrashes the team. The current Doctor is berated because the old Doctor can alter time to make his one hour infinite, but as it turns out each Doctor is the sum of all previous ones, which causes the old Doctor to gain the new one's conscience. Realizing the horror he's done, he begs for forgiveness. Only to be [[HeelFaceDoorSlam denied and executed on the spot]].
298* VillainousRescue: Jenny is rescued from execution by Nazis and deported safely back to England with Swift's egg by [[spoiler:Adolf Hitler]], because she was [[spoiler:the one who told him his art was crap and he should think of getting into politics]].
299* VSign: The Engineer flashes the palms-inverted version at an enemy's blown up corpse.
300* WeaksauceWeakness: Jack Hawksmoor becomes catastrophically ill if he spends too long outside a sufficiently large city; one of his powers allows him to travel between cities without assistance. Fortunately, the Carrier is large enough to count as a city; unfortunately, Stormwatch's old satellite base wasn't.
301** Seth's powers can all be disabled by saying a four-word phrase [[spoiler:which is never actually used to defeat him; Jenny just rewrites history so he never had his powers.]]
302* WeaponsGradeVocabulary: There was an issue where Apollo and Midnighter were trying to stop the deaths caused by a killer word: anyone who heard it would kill themselves, but not before whispering the word to someone else, repeating the process.
303* WellIntentionedExtremist: All of The Authority, really, but the Midnighter and Jack Hawksmoor tend to stand out as the most hardcore about their ideals and the most brutal.
304* WhatTheHellHero: During ''Revolution'', Midnighter rips into Jack and Doctor for letting the power of their new positions get to their heads and believe that they could solve all the problems in the world because they knew best. Which lead to a full-scale revolt which killed numerous civilians.
305* WingedHumanoid: Swift
306* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: In one of ''The Authority: Kev'' miniseries, Kev got attacked by both the PIRA and the Ulsters simultaneously. Of course, since the two factions hate each other far more than they hate him, he simply pointed them out to each other and let them kill each other off.
307* WitlessProtectionProgram: Kev Hawkins' address is supposed to be a secret due to his history with the SAS, but he keeps getting found by the various Irish terrorist groups who want him dead. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that his handler, Froggett, deliberately leaks his location to his enemies in the hopes that they'll kill him and thus Froggett will finally be rid of Kev once and for all.]]
308* WolverinePublicity
309** PlotTumor: There was a two-page joke scene of Swift sleeping with ''ComicBook/{{Gen 13}}'''s Grunge in "The Nativity". Later, Adam Warren escalated it into an ongoing affair, mostly because of the effect of the reveal on Grunge's [[TheWoobie Woobie]] girlfriend.
310* TheWorfEffect: This sort of thing happens to the Midnighter ''all the time''. The man is canonically the scariest and most terrifying individual in the Wildstorm universe, yet he gets jobbed out in ''every single story arc'', just to demonstrate how much of a threat that arc's villain is.
311** In ''ComicBook/CaptainAtomArmageddon'', it isn't Midnighter who is used this way to show how utterly ''outclassed'' everyone in the Wildstorm universe is when compared to Captain Atom, it's Apollo. Midnighter doesn't even count as a threat to Atom, and is casually (and entertainingly) dismissed offhand.
312* WriterOnBoard: The writer of the day tending to using the comics to ram their beliefs about politics and superhero comics at the reader; particularly obvious during Grant Morrison's run.
313** And also Mark Millar's. And pretty much every other author's run except the original Warren Ellis. And even him, though to a lesser extent.
314* YourDaysAreNumbered: As a century baby, Jenny Sparks knew that she would die along with century on the stroke on the last moment of December 31st 1999 along with the 20th century, to be reincarnated as Jenny Quantum, spirit of the 21st century.
315----
316
317->'''[[CaptainErsatz The High]]:''' Think for yourself and question authority. And if you ''can'' think for yourself, what do you need authority ''for?''\
318'''Jenny Sparks:''' To make a world worth living in.
319

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