‘INFINITY WAR’ ON CANCER

Marvel, docs team up with American

It’s a bird. No, it’s definitely a plane — and it happens to be plastered with stars from the upcoming movie “Avengers: Infinity War” and three cancer researchers who hail from Massachusetts.

American Airlines, Stand Up To Cancer and Marvel Studios banded together to reveal a custom-wrapped aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday. The embellished plane spotlights a couple of cancer survivors from the American Airline Team, as well as superheroes from the April 27 comic book flick, specifically Sudbury’s Chris Evans as Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther. But it also features some faces that might be familiar to us Bay Staters: doctors Phillip Sharp, Marcela Maus and Kimberly Stegmaier.

The Boston-based bunch has quite the lengthy list of credentials in the realm of oncology research: Sharp, a Ph.D. and Nobel Laureate, is a professor at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and is the chair for the Stand Up To Cancer’s Scientific Advisory Committee; Maus, an M.D. and Ph.D., works for the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, in addition to receiving Stand Up To Cancer’s 2017 Innovative Research Grant; and Stegmaier, an M.D. who received the same grant back in 2009, works at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Basically, they’re real-life superheroes, minus the magical Mjolnirs, indestructible shields and armored suits. And now they can add “aircraft model” to their resumes.

The plane featuring their faces will be jetting between Los Angeles and New York City. The stunt is just the latest component of a collaboration amongst the “Avengers” crew, American Airlines and Stand Up To Cancer, a charitable initiative whose founders include national journalist Katie Couric, former 20th Century Fox exec Sherry Lansing and movie producer Laura Ziskin.

PHOTO BY ARAYA DIAZ/GETTY IMAGES FOR STAND UP TO CANCER From left, Dr. Vinod Balachandran, American Airlines customer service representative Shandra Fitzpatrick and MIT’s Dr. Phillip A. Sharp stand in front of a customized American Airlines aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport.