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Black Panther star wins hero award, and honors a real hero

Chadwick Boseman won MTV's best hero award, and celebrated James Shaw Jr., who saved lives in the Waffle House shooting.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read

Monday was a good night for sci-fi, fantasy and superheroes at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Marvel's blockbuster hit Black Panther won the highest honor of the night, best movie. Star Chadwick Boseman won for best hero and best movie performance, and Michael B. Jordan won the honor for best villain for playing Erik Killmonger.

Boseman, who plays King T'Challa of Wakanda, the Black Panther , won the best hero award, and then gave it to someone he called a real hero: James Shaw Jr., who Boseman invited on stage with him.

Shaw wrestled an AR-15 style rifle away from a gunman at a Tennessee Waffle House restaurant in April. Four people died in the attack, but Shaw's actions likely prevented more injuries and deaths.

"Receiving an award for playing a superhero is amazing," Boseman said. "But it's even greater to acknowledge the heroes that we have in real life. I just want to acknowledge somebody that's here today: James Shaw Jr."

Jordan also referenced recent events during his acceptance speech, but in a comedic fashion.

"I'm shocked that I won this award for best villain," he said. "You know, I thought for sure Roseanne had that in the bag, you know." Comedian Roseanne Barr's revived 1990s comedy was canceled in late May after the star sent a racist tweet.

Roseanne wasn't on the ticket, but the other nominees for best villain were impressive indeed, including Thanos (Josh Brolin) from Avengers: Infinity War, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) from The Last Jedi, and creepy clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard) from It.

The young stars of It also won for best onscreen team, beating out the casts of Black Panther and Stranger Things, among others.

One of the more unusual awards, best fight, went to Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) taking on World War I German soldiers in her namesake movie. 

Actor Chris Pratt won the Generation award, a sort of lifetime achievement award. In his acceptance speech, he delivered nine rules for life, both humorous and serious. They involved everything from pooping etiquette to how best to give medicine to a dog to learning to pray and taking time to breathe.

On the television side of things, Netflix hit Stranger Things claimed the award for best show, actor Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) won for best show performance, and Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) won for best frightened performance. 

Brown could not attend the ceremony, which was taped Saturday, due to a split kneecap, but accepted via video, making an impassioned anti-bullying speech.

"There should be no space in this world for bullying, and I'm not going to tolerate it and neither should any of you," she said. Brown, just 14, made headlines recently for quitting Twitter after her image and name were repeatedly used in homophobic memes.

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