WHIH
NEWSFRONT.

A FICTIONAL NEWS DESK

WHAT WHIH NEWSFRONT IS, AND WHO READS THE NEWS

WHIH Newsfront is a make-believe current affairs programme from the Marvel universe, released online as viral marketing for Ant-Man, which reached cinemas on 17 July 2015. Its presenter is Christine Everhart, played by Leslie Bibb, who had already appeared in Iron Man and Iron Man 2. The videos were released on YouTube, and the first went up on 2 July 2015.

By the day the campaign began, Bibb had posted on Instagram about a day of filming, and the WHIH Twitter account was teasing an exclusive story on Scott Lang for 7 July.

“fun day at work today”

Leslie Bibb, on Instagram, July 2015

TWO WEEKS, FIVE VIDEOS

EVERY VIDEO IN THE SEASON, IN ORDER

The season opens on 2 July with a 28-second promo in which Everhart announces upcoming coverage of the Sokovia battle and Scott Lang’s release. The second video, “WHIH Newsfront Top Stories,” arrived on 7 July. Everhart covers the Sokovia fighting from Avengers: Age of Ultron and then turns to Lang, who in the video has been released from prison after three years of a five-year sentence. His crime was stealing money from his former employer, Vista Corp, and funnelling it back to the company’s clients like a modern Robin Hood.

The third video, on 11 July, is billed as security footage of Lang’s 2012 break-in at VistaCorp. The fourth is “WIRED Insider Interviews Darren Cross, CEO of Pym Technologies,” with Corey Stoll as Cross, who discusses Hank Pym’s S.H.I.E.L.D. connections and hints at a coming company announcement.

The season ends on 16 July with “WHIH EXCLUSIVE: Scott Lang Interview,” in which Everhart conducts a satellite interview with Lang from prison at San Quentin. Together the five videos run about nine and a half minutes.

WHERE THE NEWS TOUCHES THE FILMS

SOKOVIA, SUPERHERO REGULATION AND A TICKER FULL OF NAMES

The campaign looks backward and forward at once. The second video, released on 7 July, opens with footage of Ultron’s attack on Sokovia, which Everhart uses to discuss the government’s arguments over regulating superheroes. Kevin Feige had previously said Ant-Man lays some groundwork for Captain America: Civil War, and the video overtly hints at that conflict.

The news ticker carries smaller references, including updates on Jane Foster and Baron Strucker, which some read at the time as a possible tease for Civil War. Collider took the first segment as a fun way for Marvel to take potshots at news organizations, especially those owned by mega-corporations.

No individual writer or director is credited for this season, and contemporary reports name only Marvel. They are marketing, so little in them changes the films, but they reuse a returning character and refer to events the films established. That is why the Marvel Marathon files the season with the MCU.

THE REWATCH

FIVE SHORT VIDEOS TO WATCH JUST BEFORE ANT-MAN

Coverage at the time came as short news posts rather than reviews, so there is no critic score to report. The videos later appeared as a bonus feature on the Ant-Man home release. They are shorts designed like real news reports and interviews from the Marvel universe, with Everhart in several of them, including the interview with Lang.

Marvel made a second set of five videos in April and May 2016 for Civil War. The Marvel Marathon catalogues them as Season 1 and Season 2.

In the MCU release order guide, Season 1 sits between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, which is the natural point to watch it. It is the first entry in the MCU series in order guide, followed by Season 2, and it appears in the Marvel TV shows in order guide between Daredevil Season 1 and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 3.