The comic book superhero team
- Audience-Alienating Era: 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 Mark Millar regularly courted.
- Complete Monster: See here.
- Crosses the Line Twice: The leader of evil super-soldiers sent by Krigstein to destroy the French parliament in issue 16 is so ridiculously over-the-top politically incorrect that it actually makes you laugh at him rather than hate him. Of course, this also makes it all the more satisfying when he gets his just desserts, courtesy of Hawksmoor.Soldier: Feels kinda weird torching civilians.Team leader: Civilians are civilized, soldier. These people are French. As much as I hate Mexicans, Asians and blacks, no racial group in the world boils my blood more than these sweaty, horse-eating yahoos.
- Designated Hero:
- In the beginning, the Authority were hardline with their ideals and used violence reasonably. With Jack Hawksmoor as leader receiving the position after Jenny Sparks's death, the Authority became increasingly predisposed toward unyielding moral positions and merciless brutality as time went on, but the entry of another character, Jenny Quantum/Quarx, as a member of the team softened them somewhat. Now, their level of violence is about par for Wildstorm's post-apocalyptic world, so they're no better or worse than any other group.
- Right from the start, this was the case. Ellis has said on more than one occasion that he wrote the Authority as villains, just the kind who happened to fight even bigger ones. 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 Author Tracts, where the Authority were indeed designated to be heroes, although, obviously not all readers were convinced.
- In the "Utopian" arc, their actions kill off an entire alternate earth.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Midnighter. He even got his own series (a short-lived one but still).
- Fanon:
- Artists have given Midnighter several different hair colors, probably because he keeps his cowl on so much that none of them know any better. Fans have used this to draw the conclusion that the otherwise Manly Gay Midnighter just loves to dye his hair.
- In a Stormwatch: Achilles comic, Midnighter admits that he's a natural redhead. He just likes to dye his hair.
- Harsher in Hindsight: The "Brave New World" arc features the White House and New York City being suddenly attacked by a third-world army that suddenly gained access to advanced technology. Only a month or two after the four-part arc ended, September 11th happened.
- My Real Daddy: An interesting variation on this. Warren Ellis created and wrote the team to acclaim but it's Mark Millar'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 Audience-Alienating Era 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 "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" (and by extension, its animated adaptation) as a screed against the series' Darker and Edgier thesis about modern age superheroics.
- Once Original, Now Common: 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 Ultimate Marvel, 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.
- Strawman Has a Point: Whenever a political figure, journalist, or really anyone, tried calling the team on their excessive and often times, borderline fascist-esque vigilante activity. This was especially true during Mark Millar's run, when said strawman had a very legitimate reason to be concerned with the team overstepping their jurisdiction.
The professional wrestling stable
- Arc Fatigue: 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- the Authority lasted twice as long as both of them combined). 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.
- Ass Pull: 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 ultimately lets them get away with their acts one last time.
- Catharsis Factor: The seething hatred/apathy the Authority has garnered has reached a point where the fans will happily support Roman Reigns 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 Stephanie McMahon either. Though Reigns eventually found a way to do that by trolling her (and on one time, throwing Vince McMahon at her, and even landed a spear for good measure).
- Fan Nickname: Before being officially referred to by WWE as "The Authority," the group was nicknamed "The New Corporation" by fans.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- At the start of the angle, the Authority really hammered in that their actions were "Best for business". The first two pay per view events after the start of the angle were so poorly received that the WWE had to provide refunds to the paying audience.
- Look at the wrestlers the Authority mainly tormented: Daniel Bryan, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk Dean Ambrose, and Sting. All of them would later end up jumping ship to All Elite Wrestling. The fact that Rhodes, who's actually one of AEW's founders, actually was involved in a storyline in which the Authority "fired" him before Rhodes legitimely asked for his release doesn't help. Considering that many critics blamed the stagnation WWE has been viewed as suffering after the end of the Monday Night Wars (but got especially aggravated in the 2010s) to WWE not having any meaningful competition, and AEW being labeled as the first proper competition WWE had since WCW went under, some fans would say that the stable fulfilled their motto of doing what's "best for business" in a completely unexpected way.
- Rooting for the Empire: Going into WrestleMania 32, the X-Pac Heat for Roman Reigns 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 Dean Ambrose (by far and away the most over face on the full-time roster with Daniel Bryan'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 crowd, and his victory wasn't completely booed as it signified the end of an angle that had long worn out its welcome. See Catharsis Factor above.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: After 2014 Royal Rumble, the group, specially Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were much better received by IWC, in part due to them escalating their heel character and their feud with Daniel Bryan & Shield which resulted in some of the best matches of the year. However, they unfortunately fell right back into the Heap in 2015: Not only was their seemingly crippling Survivor Series 2014 defeat just Diabolus ex Machina'd into pointlessness only a few weeks later, but they then proceeded to squash Sting (along with both the nWo and WCW in general) in his debut match at WrestleMania 31 as well. After all of that, Too Bleak, Stopped Caring sentiment simply kicked back in full-force.
- Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The Authority's main problem was pointed out to be the same one the New World Order fell into — they never lost. Every loss they've suffered were ultimately minor setbacks at best, and the fans became sick of them. To make it worse, unlike the nWo, they didn't even have the Popularity Power that can sustain and justify their long run at the top, and once it became clear that they weren't going to lose anytime soon, if ever, the fans started leaving in droves, as evidenced by RAW's declining ratings.
- X-Pac Heat: The entire stable was hated for how long it remained on the roster, how many years the WWE championship remained in their possession, and how utterly invincible they were.
