Marvel Mania: Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Nebula land in Singapore

There was an early morning buzz around Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre yesterday as some members of the cast of the Avengers: Infinity War - Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch and Karen Gillan - made their appearance to promote the superhero movie.

And there was no shortage of showmanship from the trio.

Downey Jr, 53, kissed his Iron Man action figure beside his name card, as they sat down to answer questions from journalists from around the region.

Cumberbatch, 41, began his remarks with a "hello Singapore" in his signature baritone.

At one point, the two men started calling themselves the "facial hair bros", a reference to their characters - Tony Stark aka Iron Man and Doctor Stephen Strange - who both sport fashionable goatees in the Avengers: Infinity War.

Given the superheroes' egos, sparks are bound to fly on-screen.

Cumberbatch said: "(There is) a clash of egotistical goatees. We do have a bit of a clash and that is no bad thing.

"That is something to enjoy in the film... to see how this relationship unfolds."

Downey Jr added: "Doctor Strange is the guy who can run through all the outcomes and figure out what the most likely scenario is going to be.

"Someone has the ability to have that kind of intuition and (Tony) can only stay at odds with him for so long." 

WENT BALD

For Gillan, 30, her role of Nebula also required a hair-raising, or more like a hair-losing, commitment - she went bald.

She said: "I got a phone call from my agent asking me if I was willing to shave my head. I asked, 'What for?' And they said, 'Marvel', and I said, 'Yeah!' That was a pretty easy one. I was so excited to play the villain (which is a) fun, creepy, weird character."

Cumberbatch, too, was attracted to the humour of the Marvel films in general and the role he was given in particular.

He said: "This is a strange character by name and by nature.

"Who would have thought that the brain has the power to change your world with thought and access something other than our reality.

"It is weird and wonderful. I wanted to somehow ground it and make it human and funny."

Avengers: Infinity War, which opens here on April 25, brings together the largest collection of Marvel characters in one movie to fight the ultimate villain, Thanos.

Apart from Iron Man and Doctor Strange, other fan favourites who will appear in the movie include Captain America, Black Panther, Thor, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Director Joe Russo, 46, called the production a logistical nightmare.

"What is unique about Infinity War is it is the first time you will get to see all of the Marvel characters together.

"The writers called it a unique alchemy, or chemistry, between characters." 

As for those who have noticed that there has been one notable Avenger missing from all the promotion materials so far, fret not.

Said Russo said: "We did not forget the twice Oscar-nominated Jeremy Renner... We have a very interesting story cooked up for Hawkeye."

Added Russo: "Logistically, this was the most complicated movie to put together in history.

"We shut down Hollywood for a year, because we had every actor working in the business scheduled somewhere in the movie."