History YMMV / TheAuthority

** Right from the start, this was the case. Ellis has said on more than one occasion that he wrote the Authority as villains, just ones who happened to fight even bigger villains. The first story arc does end with Midnighter plowing a giant swathe through a populated city just to reach one person, after all. If that's not enough for you, one arc later the Authority stops an invasion from a parallel Earth by totally and indiscriminately destroying a whole country to eliminate the enemy's infrastructure, even though by that point it is clear that the invaders are completely outmatched by them anyway. Starting from Millar's run, however, the comic increasingly turned into a vehicle for political [[AuthorTract Author Tracts]], where the Authority were indeed designated to be heroes, although, obviously not all readers were convinced.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It's hard to describe how completely influential the series was, to the point that nearly every event comic to follow for the next decade or so took inspiration. It was pretty much the formative work of the early 2000s, combining the grim tone of the 90s with the scale and creativity of classic Silver Age works and adding a sense of social consciousness and consequences -- and that's before one discusses its "blockbuster"-style artwork. People who got into comics from things like ComicBook/UltimateMarvel, though, which refined a lot of these elements even further, or the host of copycats since, might not find ''The Authority'' to be anything impressive. It doesn't help that much of the series's subject matter now seems less shocking and more tastelessly edgy.

* MyRealDaddy: An interesting variation on this. Creator/WarrenEllis created and wrote the team to acclaim but it's Creator/MarkMillar's tenure that is the most influential and popular. Though, some will argue this is not necessarily as benevolent as this trope usually is. Millar's run could easily be considered an AudienceAlienatingEra but the high sales, edgy tone, and satirical jabs at mainstream comics meant that it was under his pen that the Authority found their footing and current reputation in popular culture, to the point of prompting "ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay" (and by extention, [[WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite its animated adaptation]]) as a screed against the series' DarkerAndEdgier thesis about modern age superheroics.

* AssPull: The angle’s ending. Out of nowhere, and despite the fact that he lost his match, the Authority decides to just give Shane control of Raw and Smackdown anyway due to "overwhelming fan support". This goes against everything they spent the past few years doing, doesn’t make much sense story wise (since they clearly didn’t care about the fans) and ultimate lets them get away with their acts one last time.

* ItsBeenDone:
** An authority-based stable that features a member of the family that owns the company at the top, ridiculous heel behavior, AND an unabashed attempt to screw over [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson an insanely popular babyface]]. The comparisons between them and Vince [=McMahon=]'s "Corporation" angle are frequent. It's the FleetingDemographicRule in full effect - the Corporation and the [=McMahon=]-Helmsley Faction were both done nearly a decade and a half ago. Except unlike most instances of that rule, it pays full homage to continuity rather than pretending it doesn't exist, and can perhaps be appreciated ''more'' by those fans that were around in the late 90s-mid 2000s. Call it something of a ParentalBonus.
** It's also worth noting that a key part of what made the Corporation and the [=McMahon=]-Helmsley Faction get over was the fact that the faces frequently humiliated them and usually got wins over them. Unfortunately, this crucial fact never seemed to cross the minds of the booking team, as Stephanie or Hunter rarely ever got humiliated, and when they did, they brushed it off like it was nothing and continued to dominate storylines. It didn’t help that Hunter added a clause to his contract that stated he could not be made to look weak, and that, presumably, included any and all humiliations.

* AcceptableTargets: Creator/MarkMillar despises UsefulNotes/BillClinton, so it should come as no surprise that while Millar was writing the series, there were many potshots taken at Clinton's expense. At one point he has Swift remark about the time she kicked Clinton in the [[GroinAttack nads]] for attempting to make sexual advances on her while in the bathroom. In the Jenny Sparks mini-series, one of the issues even goes so far as to implicitly [[GodwinsLaw compare Clinton to Hitler]].

* CatharsisFactor: The seething hatred/apathy the Authority has garnered has reached a point where the fans will happily support Wrestling/RomanReigns if he can get rid of them. Even the smarks don't mind, figuring if they're going to stick around any longer, they might as well put Reigns over before they go. Just watching him beat down Hunter was '''''glorious''''', and many express disappointment that the current PG rating and PC era of television means he can't humiliate Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon either. Though Reigns eventually found a way to do that by {{troll}}ing her (and on one time, [[GrievousHarmWithABody throwing]] Wrestling/VinceMcMahon at her).

* RootingForTheEmpire: Going into ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 32'', the XPacHeat for Wrestling/RomanReigns was so great that Hunter and Steph were forced to bring their heel A-game if they were ever going to get Roman over as a face. Hunter went full on mega-heel, complete with corporate suit and entered a mini-feud with Wrestling/DeanAmbrose (by far and away the most over face on the full-time roster with Wrestling/DanielBryan's retirement) to get more heat. Stephanie upped her obnoxiousness to insane levels, actively meta-insulting the audience whenever she could and even introducing Hunter at the match by calling them "sheep" and claiming that "all hope is lost". Yet despite all these desperate attempts to make the audience hate them as much as possible, the audience proved unrelenting in their hatred of Reigns and remained largely apathetic to the couple when they weren't outright cheering Triple H's offense. That being said, Reigns (accidentally) hitting Stephanie with a spear did get a strong reaction from the ground, and his victory wasn't completely booed as it signified the end of an angle that had long worn out its welcome.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Going into ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 32'', the XPacHeat for Wrestling/RomanReigns was so great that Hunter and Steph were forced to bring their heel A-game if they were ever going to get Roman over as a face. Hunter went full on mega-heel, complete with corporate suit and entered a mini-feud with Wrestling/DeanAmbrose (by far and away the most over face on the full-time roster with Wrestling/DanielBryan's retirement) to get more heat. Stephanie upped her obnoxiousness to insane levels, actively meta-insulting the audience whenever she could and even introducing Hunter at the match by calling them "sheep" and claiming that "all hope is lost". Yet despite all these desperate attempts to make the audience hate them as much as possible, the audience proved unrelenting in their hatred of Reigns and remained largely apathetic to the couple when they weren't outright cheering Triple H's offense.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It's hard to describe how completely influential the series was, to the point that pretty much every event comic to follow for the next decade or so took inspiration. It was pretty much the formative work of the early 2000s, combining the grim tone of the 90s with the scale and creativity of classic Silver Age works and adding a sense of social consciousness and consequences -- and that's before one discusses its "blockbuster"-style artwork. People who got into comics from things like ComicBook/UltimateMarvel, though, which refined a lot of these elements even further, or the host of copycats since, might not find ''The Authority'' to be anything impressive. It doesn't help that much of the series's subject matter now seems less shocking and more tastelessly edgy.

* MyRealDaddy: An interesting variation on this. Creator/WarrenEllis created and wrote the team to acclaim but it's Creator/MarkMillar's tenure that is the most influential and popular. Though, some will argue this is not necessarily as benevolent as this trope usually is. Millar's run could easily be considered an AudienceAlienatingEra but the high sales, edgy tone, and satirical jabs at mainstream comics meant that it was under his pen that the Authority found their footing and current reputation in popular culture, to the point of prompting "ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay" (and by extention, [[WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite its animated adaptation]]) as a measured response to the series' DarkerAndEdgier thesis about modern age superheroics.

* DorkAge: The Robbie Morrison era. Despite being moved to an imprint that would allow more swearing, violence, and even sexual themes, Morrison did almost nothing with this new freedom, having the team face off against bland villains and pointedly avoiding the kind of controversy that Creator/MarkMillar regularly courted.

* MyRealDaddy: An interesting variation on this. Creator/WarrenEllis created and wrote the team to acclaim but it's Creator/MarkMillar's tenure that is the most influential and popular. Though, some will argue this is not necessarily as benevolent as this trope usually is. Millar's run could easily be considered a DorkAge but the high sales, edgy tone, and satirical jabs at mainstream comics meant that it was under his pen that the Authority found their footing and current reputation in popular culture, to the point of prompting "ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay" (and by extention, [[WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite its animated adaptation]]) as a measured response to the series' DarkerAndEdgier thesis about modern age superheroics.

** Right from the start, this was the case. Ellis has said on more than one occasion that he wrote the Authority as villains, just ones who happened to fight even bigger villains. The first story arc does end with Midnighter plowing a giant swathe through a populated city just to reach one person, after all. If that's not enough for you, one arc later the Authority stops an invasion from a parallel Earth by totally and indiscriminately destroying a whole country to eliminate the enemy's infrastructure, even though by that point it is clear that the invaders are completely outmatched by them anyway. Starting from Millar's run, however, the comic increasingly turned into a vehicle for political [[AuthorTract Author Tracts]], where the Authority were indeed designated to be heroes, [[MoralDissonance although, obviously not all readers were convinced]].

* ArcFatigue: The fact that this angle went on for three years was a key issue as to why fans didn’t like it (by comparison, the Corporation angle lasted nine months, and the [=McMahon=]-Hemsley Faction lasted seven months). Many fans felt that it should have ended either after Bryan won the title at ''[=WrestleMania=] 30'', or after their seemingly conclusive defeat at ''Survivor Series 2014''.

* ArcFatigue: The fact that this angle went on for three years was a key issue as to why fans didn’t like it (by comparison, the Corporation angle lasted nine months). Many fans felt that it should have ended either after Bryan won the title at ''[=WrestleMania=] 30'', or after their seemingly conclusive defeat at ''Survivor Series 2014''.

* ArcFatigue: The fact that this angle went on for three years was a key issue as to why fans didn’t like it. Many fans felt that it should have ended either after Bryan won the title at ''[=WrestleMania=] 30'', or after their seemingly conclusive defeat at ''Survivor Series 2014''.