WHIH
NEWSFRONT S2

A SECOND TRIP TO THE NEWS DESK

WHAT CHANGES FOR THE CIVIL WAR SEASON

The first WHIH Newsfront season ran in July 2015 to promote Ant-Man. The second does the same job for Captain America: Civil War, which reached cinemas on 6 May 2016. The first video went up on 22 April, two weeks before the film opened, and the last two arrived together on 3 May. Across both films the campaign ran to ten episodes, five for each.

Christine Everhart, played again by Leslie Bibb, is back as host. This time she shares the desk with Al Madrigal of The Daily Show, who plays political correspondent Will Adams. Season 1 followed one man, Scott Lang. These videos stay with the Avengers as a group, and the anchors ask what the world owes them and what they owe in return. Neither Everhart nor Adams appears in the finished film, so the videos stand apart from its story.

TWO WEEKS, FIVE VIDEOS

EVERY VIDEO IN THE SEASON, IN ORDER

The season opens on 22 April with “AVENGERS IMPACT: A WHIH Newsfront Special Report.” The report asks what the Avengers’ victories have cost, weighing the collateral damage against the lives saved. It points back to the destruction of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron and asks whether the team should answer to government oversight.

“The Cost of Saving the World” followed on 26 April with a debate over who should pay for cleanup and rebuilding after superhero incidents. The discussion centres on whether civilians should bear the cost through an “Avengers Tax,” with comments from New Yorkers and footage from the earlier films. One resident says Tony Stark has enough money to fix New York ten times over. “The Avengers and The White House,” on 28 April, turns to the part that Washington and President Ellis should play.

The last two videos landed on 3 May. In “Exclusive: President Ellis Discusses the Avengers,” Everhart interviews the president about his Secretary of State nomination and the regulation of the Avengers, and the video links to Thaddeus Ross. “WHIH Breaking News: Attack in Lagos” cuts to a live report, with Jackson Norris as field reporter, covering the Avengers responding to Crossbones in Nigeria and an attack on the IFID headquarters in Lagos.

The five videos run 2:22, 1:41, 3:12, 3:14 and 3:06, about thirteen and a half minutes in all.

WHERE THE NEWS TOUCHES THE FILM

COLLATERAL DAMAGE AND A QUESTION OF AUTHORITY

Season 1 had already raised the idea of regulating superheroes in its second video, using Sokovia footage. Season 2 makes that debate the whole subject. The videos set out the film’s central argument, which is whether a group of powerful people should act on their own or under a governing body. The Avengers tax video draws on footage referencing the New York battle, the Washington DC incident and the Sokovia conflict, and its news ticker mentions Black Widow’s congressional testimony about Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Who is financially responsible?”

Christine Everhart, in the 26 April video

As with Season 1, no individual writers or directors are credited for this season, only Marvel and the on-screen cast. The videos worked as promotion for the film rather than as extra story, and they keep to events and people the earlier films had already established.

THE REWATCH

FIVE SHORT VIDEOS TO WATCH BEFORE CIVIL WAR

The critical response to the campaign was positive. IndieWire’s Oliver Lyttelton called it “one of the cannier bits of marketing” Marvel had come up with, and CinemaBlend’s Adam Holmes noted how the videos showed the MCU population’s perspective on events. There is no critic score for a campaign like this. No further videos from the news team followed the last Civil War episode.

In the MCU release order guide, Season 2 sits between Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War, which is the natural point to watch it. In the MCU series in order guide it follows Season 1 and comes before The Daily Bugle Season 1. In the Marvel TV shows in order guide it sits between Daredevil Season 2 and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4.