Tito kept a blind eye to his drug lord father's activities, not wishing to risk losing his father's love. His father kept him shielded as well, bribing federal government officials to get him a job that would keep Tito at a distance. Tito became a government assassin; the killing didn't bother him as long he knew nothing about his victims. One Father's Day he followed orders and planted a car bomb, unwittingly killing his father for his employers. Even worse, his wife revealed herself as a government agent as well, and Tito was forced to kill her in self-defense. His eyes opened at last to the perils of ignorance, Tito used his inheritance to endow the Authority, a formidable think tank for his personal use. Learning of the world, superhumans and dark forces, Tito designed body armor and became the Authority to protect himself.

The Authority continued to amass knowledge, selling intelligence to the likes of the Silver Sable. He eventually learned of the Globe of Ultimate Knowledge, a conduit to the Ultimate Machine, containing the accumulated knowledge of the universe. The Globe had been obtained from Watcherworld (home to the cosmic Watchers) by the Hulk for the Leader, whose mind was shut down by the massive data influx. Uatu the Watcher had reclaimed the Globe, but it ended up back in the Leader's Italian base, worn by one of the Leader's formerly mindless Humanoids. The Authority tested Spider-Man's suitability for retrieving the Globe using messages that led him across the world to oppose threats such as Major Love, Doctor Zeus, U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., and the Asgardian Norn Stones. Convincing Spider-Man of the threat of omniscient but savage Humanoids, the Authority tricked him into retrieving the Globe. Donning it, the Authority began to escalate rapidly in knowledge and power, but knowledge spread to those around him as well, and after seeing a vision of Earth-98151, where the Authority became the master of the universe, Spider-Man tore the Globe from the Authority. Uatu, who could only reclaim the Globe if it was willingly given to him, then erased knowledge of the Globe from the minds of all involved. Wiping the Authority's mind of all knowledge, leaving him an incoherent wreck, Uatu returned the Globe to Watcherworld.