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Zac Efron Takes On The Action Stars For Best Male Performance

Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Vin Diesel also nominated at MTV Movie Awards, airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

If you wanted to be nominated for Best Male Performance at this year's MTV Movie Awards, it was all about embracing your inner action hero -- unless you're [artist id="438080"]Zac Efron[/artist].

With four of the men -- [artist id="3146"]Christian Bale[/artist] ([movie id="306605"]"The Dark Knight"[/movie]), [artist id="17609"]Robert Downey Jr.[/artist] ([movie id="302714"]"Iron Man"[/movie]), [artist id="313344"]Shia LaBeouf[/artist] ([movie id="356044"]"Eagle Eye"[/movie]) and [artist id="187718"]Vin Diesel[/artist] (

[movie id="369105"]"Fast & Furious"[/movie]) -- nominated for action flicks, Efron stands alone, thanks to reprising his role as Troy Bolton in [movie id="338328"]"High School Musical 3: Senior Year."[/movie]

With Efron as the song-and-dance man in a sea of testosterone-fueled dudes, it looks like it could be an epic battle that only the most genius comic book writer could come up with: Iron Man vs. Batman. Downey and Bale managed to have blockbuster summers last year with "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight," so it's just a matter of who the fanboys vote for. And don't count out Diesel in this category: "Fast & Furious" was a huge movie as well and could possibly spoil it for the superheroes.

LaBeouf might have had an "Eagle Eye" in his nominated role, but it will still be hard for him to best Efron and his rabid tween fanbase. [article id="1597684"]Efron told us he loved dancing in "HSM 3,"[/article] since it allowed him to live out a childhood dream.

"When we got to the junkyard, everything just opened up for us," he explained about his "The Boys Are Back" dance sequence. "We had all these props and cars. It was like a dream come true. I've wanted to do that since I was, like, 5."

Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more -- updated around the clock -- visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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