Anthony Mackie was honoured for his portrayal of Captain America in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier at the MTV Movie & TV Awards.
The annual ceremony, which honours the best in pop culture, took place at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles – complete with an in-person audience – as the industry continues to recover from the pandemic.
TV hits WandaVision, Emily In Paris and The Boys led the way in nominations, while films recognised included Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Soul and Judas And The Black Messiah.
The first golden popcorn of the night 🦸 Congratulations to @AnthonyMackie for winning Best Hero! #MTVAwards pic.twitter.com/s0iba4g2XR
— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) May 17, 2021
The ceremony features gender neutral categories and returned after 2020’s show was skipped due to the pandemic
The first award of the night, best hero, went to Mackie for Marvel series The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.
Clutching the golden popcorn trophy, Mackie – a black Captain America – praised his castmates before nodding to a traumatic year, describing the last 12 months as “a very hard experience”.
He added: “But we’ve got through it and we’re stronger for it.”
Kicking off the #MTVAwards with the ULTIMATE show binger, @Lesdoggg!
Don't miss out – tune in NOW on @MTV! pic.twitter.com/QfMaHtHJb5
— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) May 17, 2021
The show opened with host Leslie Jones starring in a spoof of Disney+ Marvel hit WandaVision.
In her opening monologue, comedian and actress Jones praised some of the biggest films and shows of the year, including Bridgerton.
Snoop Dogg was also at the ceremony, performing as a DJ.
Sacha Baron Cohen was set to be honoured with the comedic genius award, while Scarlett Johansson was announced as this year’s recipient of the generation award.
The star-studded line-up of presenters included Henry Golding, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mandy Moore and Tom Hiddleston.
A second event honouring reality TV – MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED – is set to take place 24 hours after the main show.