Chadwick Boseman Was Posthumously Honored with the “Hero for the Ages” MTV Award
"He was the most heroic when he was just being Chad," friend and costar Robert Downy Jr. said.
Chadwick Boseman will always be remembered as a hero. At the MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time event last night, December 6th, the late Black Panther actor was given a posthumous award to honor the legacy he left behind.
Castmates Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle—who worked with Boseman on three different Marvel films—presented the actor’s “Hero of the Ages” award, explaining what made him so deserving.
The second you first saw him on screen, or had the opportunity to meet him in person, his energy and intensity was undeniable, Downey Jr. explained. There was something different and special about Chadwick Boseman.
Cheadle said that the late actor “inspired and influenced everyone” each time he stepped on set. “And with every role, he created a new legion of fans. He had an incredible power to unify people in their love for his work and their respect for him as a person. The way he lived his life united people behind a higher purpose and that will be his legacy,” Cheadle said.
Although Boseman will be forever known as the Black Panther, Cheadle added that he “also painted incredibly powerful portrayals of iconic and influential real men who changed the world—Thurgood Marshall, James Brown, Jackie Robinson—he brought humanity and truth to the portrayal of people who felt larger than life, and he did it in a way that honored their memories.”
Downey Jr. explained that, as someone who truly embodied what it meant to be a superhero, Boseman is a fitting recipient of the award, but he wasn’t just a hero on screen.
“His list of selfless and inspirational acts and deeds is too long to recount here, consistently showing up during trial and triumph for family, friends and fans alike, some of whom were battling the same invisible enemy,” he said, referencing the cancer that took Boseman’s life after a four-year-long private battle.
Downey Jr. asserted that Boseman was “the most heroic when just being Chad.” Both friends and fans alike will continue to mourn the loss of such a brilliant actor, but Boseman’s heroism will live on forever.
