Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself having to do a ride-along with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is intimidated by Thor’s godlike machismo and finds himself trying to do the basso profundo voice. Spider-Man (Tom Holland) shows up and annoys the hell out of them both with his millennial’s flair for pop culture references. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is nettled by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his supercilious air of intellectual superiority – and vice versa.

Ranged against him, of course, are the good guys who come together not in a single phalanx but a constellation of improvised groupings, in which the alpha males have a tendency to bicker. And he has a chilling wish for mass slaughter of half the sentient beings in existence, ostensibly so that the other half will have enough food to eat – but really so they will bow down to him as the tyrant lord.

If he can gain ownership of all the talismanic infinity stones and place them in the holes in his custom-built gauntlet then he will have the ultimate power to destroy anything he wishes in the universe. Earth is being threatened by a massive malign hunk with a huge ridgey chin called Thanos, played by Josh Brolin.

And there are some amazing Saturday-morning-kids-show moments when you feel like cheering. It’s absurd and yet persuades you of its overwhelming seriousness. One moment it’s tragic, the next, it’s cracking wise. Whatever else it does, this Marvel movie shows its brand identity in the adroit management of tone.

Instal Avengers: Infinity War