FILM · 2022 · USA
Top Gun: Maverick
- Directed by
- Joseph Kosinski
- Runtime
- 131 min
- Studio
- Skydance Media, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Paramount Pictures
291 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.
291 Interesting Facts About Top Gun: Maverick
Interesting Facts (14)
- #001
Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky suffers a recurrence of throat cancer and dies, mirroring Val Kilmer's own illness during production, which had damaged his vocal cords so badly that he relied on a speech valve producing a robotic timbre, as documented in Val (2021) and filmed during the same 2019 period. To accommodate this, the character communicates mainly by typing and speaks only two lines near the end of the scene. Director Joseph Kosinski told USA Today in 2022 that no AI was used, that Kilmer's voice was only digitally altered and blended for clarity, and that the throat cancer element was Kilmer's own idea. It was Kilmer's final role in a film; his cancer had gone into remission before his death from pneumonia on 1 April 2025.
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Glen Powell described the competitive dynamic among the male actors, who wanted to maximize their physiques for the shirtless beach football scene, telling Men's Health: "There were more male insecurities in the days leading up to that than you've ever seen on any set. And probably more coconut oil than in Magic Mike."
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The hypersonic Darkstar flown in the opening test-flight sequence closely resembles the SR-72, a Mach 6 unmanned aerial vehicle concept revealed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in the 4 November 2013 issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology, with an estimated service entry no earlier than 2030, and shares its combined-cycle propulsion approach — a turbine engine for low speeds and a jet for high speeds — and its general configuration. Skunk Works engineers collaborated with the production team to design the full-scale Darkstar mock-up, and both the Skunk Works skunk emblem and the Lockheed Martin corporate logo can be seen in multiple shots; the company's SR-71 Blackbird predecessor could reach speeds above Mach 3.
- #011
The production features the Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films logo and credits the late Don Simpson as producer, a decision Jerry Bruckheimer made to honour his former partner's legacy and his pioneering role in the sequel. Simpson, who died in 1996, also received posthumous credits on the Bad Boys sequels Bad Boys II (2003) and Bad Boys for Life (2020), despite the partnership formally dissolving after the premiere of "The Rock."
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USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) serves as the main carrier in the film; it can be identified by hull number 71 on the island's superstructure and by the name CVN-71 seen on the Combat Engagement Center screen. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) also appears, but only during the opening "Danger Zone" sequence, where the silhouette of a President Lincoln bobblehead can be seen in the bridge window as the fighter jets are launched. Both Nimitz-class carriers replaced USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which appeared in the original film but is no longer in service; Theodore Roosevelt coincidentally entered service in 1986, the same year the first production was released.
- #014
A deleted scene seen in the December 2019 trailer showed Maverick arriving at Naval Air Station North Island on a motorcycle and standing beneath a pedestal-mounted F-14A Tomcat gate guard bearing MODEX 114, showing his faded name under the canopy and three MiG-28 kill silhouettes on its nose, identifying it as the aircraft he flew with Goose in Top Gun (1986). Director Joseph Kosinski removed it for pacing in the final cut, and the digitally rendered Tomcat replaced the real A-4 Skyhawk displayed at the Coronado base entrance.
Production Story (1)
- #015
After the COVID-19 pandemic closed cinemas worldwide in 2020, distributor Paramount Pictures wanted to release the film on the new Paramount+ streaming service, and a 2021 theatrical release looked increasingly unlikely. Tom Cruise, one of the producers, however insisted the film be shown in cinemas and refused to bow to studio pressure. The gamble paid off, as it has become his highest-grossing film.
Behind the Scenes (183)
- #016
During the Mach 10 flyby scene near Ed Harris's character, the roof of an adjacent shed was accidentally lifted off by the resulting shockwave, an unplanned event captured in the single take that was used. Because the on-screen Darkstar hypersonic aircraft is a non-flying model, visual effects artists digitally removed the real jet used to create the physical effects and composited the image of the Darkstar over the shot.
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Since no crew members could accompany the actors in the back seats of the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets, the actors operating the six-camera rigs in each cockpit were also responsible for hitting their own marks, remembering their eyelines, controlling the lighting, touching up their own makeup and turning the cameras on and off, effectively serving as their own film crew at up to 7.5 G. Director Joseph Kosinski, unable to communicate with or watch the actors in flight, reviewed the footage after each sortie, gave notes and sent them back up for additional shots.
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Jennifer Connelly's character Penny Benjamin was a running joke in the original film, an unseen character mentioned as an admiral's daughter with whom Maverick had a scandalous affair. In this film's script, Maverick was to reunite with Penny for the first time at the bar after returning to Top Gun. After much thought, director Joseph Kosinski realized there were odd implications in Maverick rekindling a relationship with someone he had known as a teenager, and that portraying them as having a deep connection to Maverick's predicament was too much. During reshoots, lines were added establishing that the characters had been in an on-and-off relationship for many years.
- #020
The shirtless beach football scene required two days of shooting after Tom Cruise determined the first footage was inadequate, and after a post-shoot meal of milkshakes, tater tots and beer he sent the cast back into intense training. Glen Powell told USA Today: "We shot it and that night we all went and got milkshakes and tater tots. Just like excess and everyone grabbed a beer. And a week later Tom said, 'We've got to reshoot it. It wasn't good enough. We're going to reshoot it.' And then everyone's back in the gym day and night." The sequence served as a callback to the original film's beach volleyball montage, which became one of the franchise's most recognizable sequences; during production Glen Powell also injured himself on the first play of the first shoot.
- #021
Cinematographer Claudio Miranda, Joseph Kosinski and star-producer Tom Cruise worked closely with the Navy to develop the cinematographic approach for "Maverick," shooting Maverick's cheating training run and then designing a months-long training program to bring their younger co-stars up to speed. A rig of six cameras each was installed on two F/A-18s flown by real pilots. Freeing up valuable cockpit space by removing unnecessary equipment, the producers installed lightweight-lensed 6k Sony Venice digital cinema cameras and the new Rialto system, which extends the camera's sensor blocks and allowed the film to be shot over the actors' shoulders toward the aircraft. The cameras had to clear the ejection path, run on battery power so as not to draw on the aircraft's power, and withstand shocks, vibration and forces of more than 7.5 G safely and securely. After a demanding trial-and-error and approval process, Miranda was ready to go. The producers managed to capture not only the characters' performances but the real effects of the flight maneuvers on the actors' faces, a feature Miranda believes makes a noticeable difference for moviegoers. Miranda points, for example, to Cruise's catapult launch from the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. "You see Tom launch off the aircraft carrier and he does this dip. In most movies all they do is [jolt back] and then take off. But what's exciting when you see Tom is there's a little bit more of a drop as he leaves the deck. For some reason, when you see that, you go, 'We're really with him,'" he said. "I think that's what really makes this film special."
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Behind the scenes, the reason for the off-screen death of Carole Bradshaw (played by Meg Ryan in Top Gun (1986)) was, despite its devastating consequences, quite simple: a desire to focus on new characters rather than old ones. Director Joseph Kosinski told Insider, "I didn't want every story to always be backwards." "It was important to introduce some new characters." As a result, Ryan and Kelly McGillis (the actress who played Maverick's love interest Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood in the original film) were not asked back for the sequel and appear only very briefly in archival footage from the first film. In an interview with CinemaBlend, Kosinski explained his decision in more detail. "[Charlie and Carole] weren't in the story I was working on. Obviously, their spirits dominate the film in some ways. As you know, both are glanced at in the film. But it was important that we wanted to make sure we were telling a new chapter in Maverick's life. We didn't want to look back all this time."
- #024
During production of the sequel, Tom Cruise was older than Tom Skerritt, who played Viper in the original Top Gun (1986). Born in August 1933, Skerritt was 52 when the original film was released in May 1986; Cruise, born in July 1962, was 55 when principal photography began in May 2018, turned 56 during filming, and was 59 at the theatrical premiere in May 2022.
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After extensive flight training and ground preparations, the actors stayed in the air for 90 minutes several times a day alongside professional pilots; they had to hit their marks, check the light and makeup, remember their eyelines and turn the cameras on themselves. This meant that Claudio Miranda, who relied on the sun as his primary light source, studied the flight routes and weather every day and set the camera exposures before takeoff. Since there was no live film feed on the ground, Miranda had frustrating waiting periods. "It was really frustrating because it's so hard to predict," he said. "I basically had to set one exposure because the cameras don't auto-expose and they're very specific. So I'd have to look 50 miles ahead to where they were going, know the terrain, how low they were going to go, and set the exposure and hope the weather didn't change on the way there."
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From the actors' bodies reflecting the strain of withstanding G-forces in the air to the realistic fluttering of the jet's wings, the practical imperfections captured in the film give 'Maverick' its unique texture and power. "Sometimes you'd try to hold it in frame and the messiness would have more energy, so what we mostly wanted was to use long lenses and try to hold it in frame but not do a very good job. All of that makes it much more exciting, real and human," he said. Claudio Miranda referenced the instinctive, pre-CGI, clumsy stop-motion animated AT-AT walkers in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). "Now everything is like a gazelle and [missing] human imperfection, and I think that's what gives 'Top Gun: Maverick' its energy, and I think people respond to it." For this reason, the producers decided not to clean up one aspect of the aerial photography that sharp-eyed viewers might notice: barely perceptible camera reflections in some shots. "There was talk of getting rid of them. But that would have made it even more synthetic," he said. "We worked so hard to capture it in camera, so we left them in a bit deliberately, because we're really capturing that."
- #029
Ironically, director Joseph Kosinski claimed the sailing scene was the hardest sequence to shoot. Because there was no wind, the location had to be changed twice, and when it was finally shot in San Francisco Bay, the wind was so fierce that the actors struggled to hold the helm. Kosinski noted that sailing was something Tom Cruise was not skilled at. One of the crew hid in the hull of the boat so that he could take over the wheel if necessary.
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Before the actors were exposed to real G-forces in Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets carrying IMAX-class cameras, cinematographer Claudio Miranda got into the cockpit himself. The Oscar-winning cinematographer of 'Life of Pi' (2012), who spent months testing cameras and experimenting with in-cockpit rigs, was looking for the right combination of technology, precision and art to capture the instinctive effects of high-intensity aerial flight on the human body. He wanted to put the audience in the pilot's seat as Tom Cruise's Maverick returns to the skies years later. So he strapped into the L-39 Albatros jet where Miles Teller, Glen Powell and their fellow actors trained to prepare their minds and bodies for the real thing. "I only pulled four Gs," Miranda said, smiling at the memory of his own flight missions, "and that was enough for me." He watched how his own body reacted in the test footage and drew some invaluable lessons. "Because we were experimenting with cameras, I was reading menus and I realized that was a terrible idea - while turning, I'm trying to reset the camera on the plane," he said. "Anyway, I didn't feel too good after that." The experiments proved that practically filming the actors in real flight could create a sensory, instinctive connection with the audience. He even got his pilot's license in the process. Speaking to The Times by video conference from Australia, Miranda explained why (and how) the 'Top Gun: Maverick' team went to such great lengths to push the boundaries of action cinema.
- #032
Director Joseph Kosinski shared the incredible connection between the original and new Top Gun films. "I had a few camera operators who had worked on the original film. A number of crew members who worked on the original film worked on our film. And one of them was the ground-to-air operator. He told me that most of the ground-to-air shots were done from a particular mountain peak in Nevada, looking toward the training valley. So we went back to the same peak. We stood there with him and our four cameras with very long lenses. And we did our ground-to-air shots from the same spot 35 years later. It was pretty amazing," he said.
- #033
Miles Teller likened the underwater training to being waterboarded: upside down, strapped in, eyes closed and underwater. The experience increased his admiration for Tom Cruise's intensity, but he has no intention of competing with him: 'Nobody's in your lane, man, give me the comedy lines.'
- #034
Cinematographer Claudio Miranda said he understood the language Tony Scott created with 'warm gradients' and long lenses, and that they paid homage to it in some scenes. He talked with the original film's cinematographer, Jeffrey L. Kimball, about the difficulties they faced on their production and added a slight film grain for a 'somewhat vintage feel.'
- #035
Miranda received unexpected help while shooting the opening sequence montage. Walking down a corridor wishing the sun were at exactly the right angle, she ran into the captain and made her request. The captain changed the ship's course; Miranda recalled the legend that Tony Scott spent $25,000 on a similar shot in the first film. "Tony Scott paved the way for us; it's hard to imagine anyone getting that kind of access again."
- #036
In the low-altitude flights, the landscapes rushing past in the background heightened the cinematic excitement. Miranda noted that the wide-angle lens mounted on the inward-facing camera did not create distortion because Cruise was in the center, and that it showed the wings bending under G-force. The "illegal" training flight was entirely real; a Blue Angel descended to as low as 50 feet.
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For Maverick's unauthorized flight, special permission was obtained from the Navy to fly below 50 feet. Tom Cruise described the experience as "the journey of his life." When the pilot landed, he asked Kosinski whether he had gotten the shot; upon receiving the answer "Yes," he said, "Good, because I'm never doing that again."
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Director Joseph Kosinski remembers the beach football scene as one of the most memorable set days: "It was a much-requested moment, a very memorable day. The actors were stressed; everyone had worked hard to prepare for that scene. They carried the weight of the original scene being iconic. I remember Glen went 110 percent in the first film and hurt himself, but he recovered quickly and we shot a great version."
- #051
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- #053
At the beginning of the film, a quick shot is seen inside one of the launch bubbles. A modern aircraft carrier has two bubbles: one fixed on the port edge of the flight deck, the other stowed near the center, below the deck, and raised during launch. Catapult officers (Shooters) usually touch the deck and point forward to send the aircraft on its way, but it is also common for the shooter to be inside the bubble; that is what happens in the film.
- #054
Filmmakers sometimes use terminology they know is not accurate but that audiences will understand. As Rooster prepares to take off in the F-14, he tells Maverick that both runways have been bombed and that they are on a taxiway ("a very short taxiway!"). In reality there was only one runway; the second runway was actually a taxiway. The 'taxiway' Rooster says they are on is actually an 'apron'. The filming was done at Lake Tahoe airport, which was under renovation; Google Earth imagery shows that the military hangars and the tanks that raise the F-14's nose wheel are CGI, while the runway and apron layout are real.
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The Cobra maneuver for which Vice Admiral 'Cyclone' Simpson reprimands Maverick is beyond the capacity of many aircraft. Maverick uses it while training in his F-18A and to evade the missile when Rooster's countermeasures run out. Historically there is no record of this maneuver being used in real air combat; it has been seen in dogfight training and at displays. The maneuver was made famous by Soviet pilot Viktor Pugachev, who performed it at the 1989 Paris Air Show, but it is accepted that it was developed by Swedish Air Force pilots in the early 1960s; the Swedes call it the 'kort parad', the Syrians the 'zero-speed maneuver'.
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The marketing campaign focused on real flight scenes with minimal CGI. However, VFX breakdown videos released later revealed that almost all the action scenes, from the aircraft to the backgrounds, were largely computer-generated. The YouTube channel 'The Movie Rabbit Hole' determined that in behind-the-scenes footage the green screens were concealed by being shown as grey walls.
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The film revolves around the F/A-18 Super Hornet, which could be considered mediocre by today's standards. The reason is the necessity of choosing a US Navy aircraft for filming that can both land on an aircraft carrier and has two seats (for the actors). Even so, good pilots in this aircraft could in theory defeat an enemy aircraft with superior characteristics. If the more capable Eurofighter Typhoon had been chosen, victory would have been almost guaranteed, but it would not help with filming and would ruin the story.
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The roof of the shack next to Ed Harris was not planned to come off while Maverick was flying. However, they had only one chance to shoot the scene, and it was a very lucky event. Since the Darkstar was only a non-flying mock-up, the real aircraft used was copied and the Darkstar image was placed over it.
- #068
The actors playing the pilots not only had to film themselves, but also had to turn the camera on and off, touch up their makeup, adjust their lighting and control their sound. The director had to wait on the ground for hours for the actors to return with the footage, and after the footage was reviewed, adjustments were made and the actors went back up for another take.
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The character Penny Benjamin, played by Jennifer Connelly, was an unseen character mentioned in the original film as an admiral's daughter with whom Maverick had a scandalous relationship. In this film's script, it was planned for Maverick to meet Penny for the first time at the bar after returning to Top Gun. Director Joseph Kosinski realized that, considering Maverick last knew Penny as a teenager, rekindling the relationship carried strange implications, and that having them form a deep bond over Maverick's problems felt forced. During reshoots, lines were added indicating that the characters had been in an on-and-off relationship for years.
- #071
Distributor Paramount Pictures wanted to show the film on the new Paramount+ streaming service after cinemas closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a theatrical release became increasingly impossible in 2021. However, Tom Cruise, one of the producers, did not bow to studio pressure and insisted that the film be released in cinemas. This risk paid off and the film became his highest-grossing film.
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After extensive flight training and ground preparations, the actors went up into the sky with professional pilots several times a day for 90 minutes and had to hit their marks, check lighting and makeup, remember their eyelines and turn the cameras on themselves while in the air. This meant that Claudio Miranda, who relied on the sun as his primary light source, had to study the flight paths and weather every day to adjust camera exposures before takeoff. Since there was no live film feed on the ground, there were frustrating waiting periods for Miranda. 'It was really frustrating because it's so hard to predict,' he said. 'I basically had to set a single exposure, because the cameras don't auto-expose and they're very specific. So I had to look 50 miles ahead to where they were going, know the terrain, how low they would go, and then set the exposure and hope the weather didn't change on the way there.'
- #074
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The beach football montage in which they take off their shirts had to be shot twice because Tom Cruise did not find the first version good enough. The reshoot put additional pressure on the actors to get back into shape to redo the scene. Actor Glen Powell said, 'We shot it and that night we all went to eat milkshakes and fries. We feasted and everyone got a beer. A week later Tom said, "We have to shoot it again. It wasn't good enough. We're going to reshoot it." And then everyone went back to the gym day and night.' This sequence is used heavily to promote the film because a similar scene in the original film became iconic and a favorite among viewers. The original film had an intense beach volleyball match.
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Glen Powell admitted that during the beach football scene, a healthy macho rivalry arose among the players in the moments when the shirts came off: "There was such male anxiety about taking off the shirts! The gyms were packed day and night. It was a level of insecurity you've never seen before."
- #080
Cinematographer Claudio Miranda, director Joseph Kosinski and Tom Cruise worked closely with the Navy to develop the film's cinematographic approach. After the test shoot of Maverick's rule-breaking training flight, a training program lasting months was designed for the young cast. A six-camera rig was installed in two F/A-18s flown by real pilots. Unnecessary equipment was removed to make room in the cockpit; thanks to lightweight-lens 6K Sony Venice digital cinema cameras and the Rialto system, shots could be taken over the actors' shoulders and toward the aircraft. The cameras had to clear the launch path, run on battery power and withstand forces above 7.5 G. After a meticulous process of trial and error and approval, filming began. The producers captured not only the character performances but also the real effects of the flight maneuvers on the actors' faces. Miranda believes this makes a noticeable difference for cinema audiences. For example, Cruise's catapult launch from the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt: "You see Tom take off from the aircraft carrier and do that drop. In most movies they just jerk back and take off. But what's exciting about watching Tom is that there's another little drop as he leaves the deck. For some reason, when you see that, you say, 'We're really with him.' I think that's what really makes this film special."
- #081
The opening text is the same as in the original film, but "insure" has been correctly changed to "ensure" and "men" has been updated to "men and women." In Top Gun in 1986 there were no female combat pilots in the Navy; the first female combat pilot, Brigadier General Jeannie Leavitt, began serving in the Air Force in 1993.
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The reason for the off-screen death of Carole Bradshaw (played by Meg Ryan) was the desire to focus on new characters. Director Joseph Kosinski told Insider, "I didn't want every story to always look back. Introducing new characters was important." Ryan and Kelly McGillis were not called back for the sequel; they appeared only in a brief archival shot from the first film.
- #086
The target country is never named, only called a 'rogue state.' The red bird and open wings on the Su-57 resemble the red star in a colored circle on the MiG-28s in the first film. The star and circle represent North Korea. The 5th-generation fighter jets are Su-57s (NATO code Felon); by 2022 only about a dozen had been produced and their only user is Russia. The attackers also use F-14 Tomcats; only the US and Iran have used this aircraft. The US sold F-14s to Pahlavi Iran, and after the 1979 coup the remaining Tomcats passed to the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. The last Tomcat in the US was retired in September 2006, 11 of them were stored in the desert in Arizona; those not put on display were scrapped to prevent their parts from being sold to Iran. Iran was still using Tomcats in 2022.
- #087
The World War II-era P-51 Mustang in the film is Tom Cruise's personal aircraft, which he has owned since 2001. Built in 1946, the plane was originally a navy reconnaissance aircraft named 'Montana Miss' and had been a museum exhibit since the 1960s. Cruise restored it, renamed it 'Kiss Me Kate' and flies it often. Cruise, who got his pilot's license in 1996, owns many aircraft, including a G4 luxury jet with a hot tub. However, the Navy did not allow him to fly the F-14 Tomcat, the plane he became identified with in the first Top Gun film.
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Tom Cruise was first approached about a Top Gun sequel in 1990, while promoting Born on the Fourth of July. At the time Cruise said 'making a sequel would be irresponsible.' Cruise officially gave his approval in 2010, after producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the first film's director, Tony Scott, found a compelling story. Although Cruise and Val Kilmer wanted to take part, Scott's tragic death in 2012 put the project at risk. Developing a compelling story took years.
- #090
The Darkstar that Maverick test flies is based on the SR-72, a Mach 6 unmanned aircraft concept announced by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Aviation Week and Space Technology on November 4, 2013. The aircraft is not expected to enter service before 2030. The Darkstar's configuration closely resembles the SR-72 concept, as does its use of a turbine at low speed and a scramjet at high speed. Skunk Works and Lockheed Martin logos appear in the film. Its predecessor, the SR-71 Blackbird, could reach Mach 3.0.
- #091
The finished film carries the 'Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' logo and memorializes the late Don Simpson as one of the producers. This was done at the request of Simpson's partner and longtime friend Bruckheimer, who said Don was a strong advocate for a Top Gun sequel and that his name should be on the film. The Bad Boys series also carries the same logo.
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When Maverick first arrives at Top Gun, he stands next to an F-14 'Gate Guard.' This aircraft is his own plane from the 1986 film; his name is under the canopy and three aircraft symbols on the nose represent his three MiG kills. Although the scene was in the trailer, it was cut from the film.
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Tom Cruise admitted he was moved when he reunited with Val Kilmer: 'I've known Val for decades, and for him to come back and play that character... He's such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You're looking at Iceman.' Cruise said, 'I was crying, I got emotional. He's such a brilliant actor, and I love his work.' Producer Bruckheimer said Cruise was determined to include Kilmer in the film: 'We all wanted him, but Tom was adamant that if he was going to make another Top Gun, Val had to be in it.' Bruckheimer described the meeting between Maverick and Iceman as 'very emotional.' At 2022 CinemaCon, he revealed that Cruise had said, 'If Val isn't in the film, I'm not making this film.' Kilmer wrote in his 2020 memoir, 'Maverick's rival was Iceman; the two were like salt and pepper.'
- #096
The film was shot entirely with IMAX-certified Sony Venice 6K full frame cameras; the sensor of these cameras, specially developed for the cockpit scenes, can be separated from the body and connected by fiber optic cable, allowing it to fit into tight spaces. In IMAX theaters, selected scenes are presented in an aspect ratio up to 26% wider.
- #097
Tom Cruise met with Sir Ridley Scott about directing this film. Ridley's brother Tony Scott had directed the first Top Gun, and Ridley had previously worked with Cruise on Legend. Ridley politely declined, saying that this kind of fast-paced action film was not his style, but he drew up a list of directors he thought would be better suited to Cruise.
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The actors' bodies under G-forces, the realistic shaking of the jet wings and other practical imperfections give the film a unique texture and power. Cinematographer Claudio Miranda said, 'Sometimes when you try to hold it in frame, that messiness had more energy; using a long lens and trying to hold it in frame but not doing it well... All of that makes the film more exciting, real and human.' Miranda cited the rawness of the stop-motion AT-ATs in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as an example. 'Now everything is like a gazelle and devoid of human imperfection; I think that's what gives Top Gun: Maverick its energy, and that's what people respond to.' For this reason, the producers decided not to clean up the camera reflections in the aerial shots.
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Ironically, director Joseph Kosinski said the sailing scene was the hardest scene to shoot. Because there was no wind, the location was changed twice, and in the end, while shooting in San Francisco Bay, the wind was so strong that the actors struggled to hold the helm. Kosinski noted that sailing was something Tom Cruise was not skilled at. A crew member hidden in the hull of the boat could take over the steering when necessary.
- #102
Like the first film, this sequel was made in close cooperation with the Department of Defense's Office of Entertainment Media. According to an article published in the Washington Post in May 2022, the office provided jets, aircraft carriers, personnel and technical expertise. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Glen Roberts said his office did not make any changes to the script, and that they only paid attention to safety, accuracy, policy and suitability criteria.
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Hangman is said to have shot down a Cold War-era aircraft as the only active naval aviator other than Maverick to have an air-to-air kill. This refers to the downing of a Su-22 that allegedly attacked US-backed Syrian forces in 2017. This was the US Navy's first manned aircraft kill since the 1991 Gulf War, the first for a Super Hornet and the third for an F/A-18. If Hangman's reputation rests on this, it is an impressive achievement for a young aviator.
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Cinematographer Claudio Miranda himself got into the cockpit before the scenes in which the actors were exposed to real G-forces. He withstood four Gs by running tests in an L-39 Albatros jet. 'That was enough for me,' he said. The tests proved that practical flight shooting could establish a sensory connection with the viewer. During this process, he even got his pilot's license.
- #107
The 'Fightertown U.S.A.' (Naval Air Station Miramar) in the first film was real. On October 1, 1997, Miramar was transferred to the US Marine Corps and the 'Fightertown' nickname was dropped. However, in Top Gun: Maverick, 'Fightertown U.S.A.' still exists and has been moved to Naval Air Station North Island, 19 miles southwest of Miramar. Although this base is real, it is not the real home of Top Gun and has not taken on Miramar's nickname. Therefore, 'Fightertown' in the sequel is fictional. North Island was probably used for the southern California beach scenes; the real Top Gun is currently at NAS Fallon in the Nevada desert.
- #108
Director Joseph Kosinski described the connection between the original and new Top Gun films as follows: A ground-to-air operator who had worked on the original film said that most of the shooting was done from a certain mountain peak in Nevada. Kosinski stated that they returned to the same peak and shot from the same place 35 years later with four cameras and very long lenses.
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Miles Teller likened the underwater training to 'water torture'. He described being strapped into the 'dunker' device, which simulates being trapped upside down in a fully submerged cockpit, and having to unbuckle and climb up to the seats. This experience made him admire Tom Cruise's intensity, and he said he had no intention of competing with him.
- #114
The producers wanted to pay respect to the original film and its director, Tony Scott. Cinematographer Claudio Miranda had worked with Scott and paid homage in some scenes by using "warm gradients" and longer lenses. While reshooting the opening sequence, he managed to change the ship's course so the sun would be at the right angle, whereas Scott had spent $25,000 on the same thing in the original film. Miranda believes the access Tony Scott had will never be possible again.
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In the first trailer in 2019, the Taiwan and Japan flags on the patch on Maverick's jacket were replaced by fictional flags with the same color schemes. Paramount was accused of trying to please Chinese censors and financier Tencent. When Tencent withdrew from the project, the original flags were restored, but the film was not released in China.
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Bob wears a VFA-51 patch, a reference to the old squadron VF-51 Screaming Eagles, with which Viper flew alongside Maverick's father. VF-51 was disbanded in 1995 and was not reactivated as VFA. Phoenix, meanwhile, wears the patch of VFA-41 Black Aces, which was involved in the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident that formed the basis for the climax of the original film.
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In the film, Iceman is portrayed as commander of the Pacific Fleet. In reality, Admiral Samuel John Paparo Jr., who held that post at the time of the film's release, is also a fighter pilot, a Top Gun graduate and an experienced pilot with 6,000 flight hours, including in the F-14 Tomcat.
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Claudio Miranda said that in low-altitude shots, landscapes rushing past in the background heighten the cinematic excitement. With a wide-angle lens, details such as the wings flexing were captured while Tom Cruise was at the center. The "illegal" practice flight was entirely real; a Blue Angel descended to as low as 50 feet.
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Jon Hamm said the scenes were filmed with multiple takes so that Cyclone would not come across as hostile or ineffective toward Maverick. His aim was not to play the man who lays down the rules as a one-note grouch, and he received comments from people saying "your superiors really do treat you like that."
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The mission in the film bears many similarities to the Death Star attack in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope: a small group of fighters flies along a trench to target a shaft opening in order to destroy the target while under fire from defensive weapons; the successful shot is made by a pilot who fires on instinct rather than with targeting technology; the heroes are saved by the last-minute intervention of an arrogant pilot who was not part of the original mission. In the scene where Maverick attacks during the practice flights, a pilot tells the pilot about to take the shot "Stay on target," and both are shot down by Maverick.
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The film's promotion stated that CGI was used sparingly and that as much footage as possible was shot with "traditional methods." While much of the footage was shot in real aircraft environments, the more dangerous cockpit shots were done for safety reasons using a cockpit rig on a gimbal against a green screen. In addition, detailed large-scale models were built by hand by experts for the FX shots of the aircraft explosions (as in the first film).
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At the film's climax, Maverick tells Rooster to eject, but nothing happens. In the F-14, each seat must be armed separately for the seats to eject. This is a normal step in the takeoff procedure, but Rooster does not know the procedure because he was not trained to fly the aircraft. It is possible that this is a film oversight or that Maverick forgot in the excitement.
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Val Kilmer's real-life children, Jack and Mercedes Kilmer, appear beside Maverick and Admiral Kazansky's widow while the flag is presented to Iceman's widow at his funeral. Real photographs of Kilmer with his children also appear at the entrance of Kazansky's house when Maverick comes to visit. Mercedes was on set while Kilmer and Tom Cruise filmed the emotional scenes.
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It stayed in Japanese cinemas for a year and surpassed The Last Samurai as Tom Cruise's biggest film in that market.
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Jerry Bruckheimer claimed that he met with original Top Gun director Tony Scott a week before his suicide, specifically to discuss the possibility of a sequel. According to Bruckheimer, Scott was interested in the subject and showed no sign during the meeting that his health was poor or that he was suicidal.
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The film shows a barrier landing on an aircraft carrier. Inspired by a similar scene in The Final Countdown, Tony Scott had also designed Cougar and Merlin's landing in the first Top Gun as a barrier landing. Scott shot the setup of the barrier several times, but it turned out that making the scene work was too laborious and costly. As time ran short, Scott turned the scene into the famous sequence in which Maverick and Goose help bring Cougar aboard, ignoring their fuel status. In this film, the technology to realize the barrier sequence was finally ready.
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Cyclone scolds Maverick over 'that cobra.' The Pugachev's Cobra is a real, rarely used flight maneuver seen mostly in air shows. Maverick suddenly raised his aircraft's nose so that the underside of the plane faced the direction of travel, slowing down dramatically. This causes the pursuer to pass in front of you, but it is dangerous because it can lead to a collision.
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Director Joseph Kosinski recounted that while filming at a secret US Navy base, the camera was confiscated: 'I went to places civilians can't go, I saw things I shouldn't see. At one point my camera was taken and its contents were erased.' Describing the collaboration with the Navy as 'a dream,' Kosinski said, 'We worked with the engineers who build the real secret aircraft. There's a real atmosphere here, not a Hollywood design.'
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The question may come to mind of why Tomahawk missiles were not used on the mission. The answer: the SAM positions were too close to the target area. The debris from a missile strike would obscure the pilots' visibility, endanger the air intakes of the jet engines and lead the mission to failure.
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In the first film, every MiG-28 was downed with missiles, and the F-14's gun was never used. Yet the purpose of Top Gun Academy was to teach pilots to rely not on missiles but on dogfight maneuvers and aircraft guns. In this film, Maverick puts that philosophy into practice by scoring a kill with his guns.
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Maverick and Rooster stealing an enemy aircraft is based on a real event from World War II. After being shot down over Germany in 1944, Colonel Bruce Ward Carr infiltrated a Luftwaffe airfield and returned to Allied lines in an enemy aircraft. Unable to lower his landing gear, Carr made a belly landing; he was first taken for an enemy but was recognized by his commander.
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While Tom Cruise was in England for the Edge of Tomorrow shoot, he became friends with Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton had said he wanted to appear in a Top Gun sequel. During casting, Cruise called him and offered him the role of a fighter pilot, but Hamilton had to turn it down because of the Formula 1 calendar.
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Because Tom Cruise is a real-life pilot, he uses aviation jargon naturally. While taxiing the Darkstar, he says "information alpha," reporting that he has received the most current weather information. In the stolen F-14, he confirms that the speed needle is working by saying "needle's alive"; this is a critical pre-takeoff check.
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Fighter pilots' call signs usually come from a mistake they made. Hangman got his name from constantly leaving his wingman; Phoenix got hers from surviving a burning plane crash. Bob, however, is the only one without a call sign; this could mean he is the most professional WSO in the squadron.
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Maverick's rank is captain, equivalent to a full bird colonel in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. By this point he should have been at least a two-star admiral (rear admiral), meaning he is two ranks behind. His by-the-book colleague Iceman, meanwhile, is four ranks ahead of him (admiral). Reaching that rank generally takes 34 years; in the film's chronology, 36 years have passed. Ice would have served as admiral for two years or more before retiring due to health problems.
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Penny Benjamin's daughter is named Amelia – a nod to Amelia Earhart, continuing the aviation theme. Earhart was a famous pilot who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937; she was 22 days short of her 40th birthday when she vanished. Her husband had her legally declared dead two years later; she was never found.
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In the first scene at the bar, Hangman plays a song by pressing the '8' and '6' keys on the jukebox. This is a reference to the release year of the original Top Gun (1986). Maverick is also 'eighty-sixed' from the bar (thrown out by force, in US bar slang) after his credit card is declined.
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At the 2:15 mark, as Maverick exits the bombing run, he presses a flight stick paddle switch with his little finger. This is the button that disables the aircraft's G-force limiter. With the limiter engaged, the aircraft cannot perform maneuvers that would subject it and its pilot to more than 7.5 G. Because Maverick disables this button, he can pull off the 10G exit. Although it is a very small detail, the filmmakers included it, showing incredible attention to detail.
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While sailing with Penny (Jennifer Connelly), Maverick (Tom Cruise) is told by Penny to 'pull the backstay to depower the sails.' Maverick asks, 'Okay. What does that mean?' Penny replies, 'You're in the Navy, you should know!' This resembles a moment in A Few Good Men (1992) in which Cruise played US Navy Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee. On arriving in Cuba, he is told that a ferry will take him to his next destination. He says, 'I'm not too crazy about boats. That's all.' Commander Galloway (Demi Moore) snaps back, 'For God's sake, Kaffee! You're in the Navy, for crying out loud!'
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Director Joseph Kosinski described shooting the beach football scene as one of his most memorable days on set. 'The actors were quite stressed; they had worked very hard to prepare for that scene. They were under the weight of how iconic the original scene was. I remember Glen going 110 percent on the first play and injuring himself, but he recovered quickly and we were able to shoot a great version of it.'
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Directors Martin Campbell, Joe Johnston and Simon West were approached by Tom Cruise for the directing job. Campbell said that at 75 he wanted to move away from big-budget films and focus on smaller-scale ones. Johnston stated that he was a fan of Top Gun (1986) and did not think he could make a film that could come close to it. What happened with West is unknown, but a few years earlier he had had a disagreement with producer Jerry Bruckheimer over directing Black Hawk Down (2001) and had gone off to direct Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) instead.
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The film mirrors the opening and closing of the original Top Gun: the opening introduces Tom Cruise and Jennifer Connelly as the leads, followed by fighter jets taking off from an aircraft carrier. The closing lists the cast and their call signs, with the credits rolling against a sunset in a yellow sky. Where the original played The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", this film opts for Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand".
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Rooster's line in the F-14, "both runways are bombed, we're on the taxiway," is terminology the filmmakers used knowing it was not accurate. In reality there was only one runway, while the second runway was actually the taxiway. The area Rooster is on is called the apron. The shoot took place at Lake Tahoe airport; the military hangars and tanks were CGI additions, but the runway layout was real.
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The family of the author of the article that inspired Top Gun (1986) sued Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement over the sequel. According to the complaint, Paramount could not reacquire the rights to Ehud Yonay's 1983 article "Top Guns" from the family. The lawsuit seeks a share of the film's profits and an injunction against its distribution.
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In both Top Gun films, someone close to Maverick dies. In the first film, he lost his best friend Goose during a faulty training mission; in this film, his rival and later friend Iceman dies of throat cancer. Goose's death deeply shook and traumatized Maverick; its effects are still felt in this film. At Iceman's funeral, Maverick is emotionally shaken. Despite the tense rivalry in the first film, the two gradually came to respect each other and became close friends. Iceman would vouch for Maverick when he got into trouble, despite his many risky activities. Before dying, Iceman encouraged Maverick to let go of the trauma over Goose, forgive himself and mend things with Rooster.
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Casting director Denise Chamian wanted Austin Butler for the role of Rooster, but Tom Cruise, although impressed by his talent, thought Butler was too young for the role (Butler would have been 30 at the film's release date; that is six years older than Cruise was when Top Gun (1986) was released). Butler nevertheless turned down the role and chose Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019). Chamian eventually cast Butler in the lead role in Elvis (2022).
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In the penultimate dogfight, Maverick used weapons against a 5th-generation fighter jet. There was a counter showing the number of remaining rounds. At one point there were 33 rounds left. This was a reference to the original film, because the sequel was being shot 33 years after the first film's release. It was also the number Tom Cruise wore on his jersey in All the Right Moves (1983).
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In the first bar scene, Phoenix telling a pilot 'we're playing nine-ball' may be a reference to Vincent, the nine-ball hustler Tom Cruise played in The Color of Money (1986) right after the original Top Gun. Cruise had even had to return to shoot reshoots for Top Gun while filming The Color of Money.
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In Japan, the film collaborated with the anime Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (2018). The series features the character Mayano Top Gun, named after the racehorse of the same name, and the horse itself was named after the original film. Mayano likes to use aviation terms and wears a bomber jacket similar to Maverick's. For this reason she was chosen as the promotional pilot and replaced Maverick on one of the film's posters in Japan. Four Uma Musume voice actresses attended the film's Japanese premiere; Tom Cruise greeted Mayano Top Gun's voice actress Mio Hoshitani by asking her 'Do you copy?' and encouraged her to say 'Copy!'
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Much of the marketing focused on real flight scenes with minimal CGI use; however, VFX breakdown videos posted online revealed that nearly all the action scenes, from the aircraft to the backgrounds, were largely computer-generated. The YouTube channel 'The Movie Rabbit Hole' also found that behind-the-scenes footage had been manipulated, with grey walls shown to conceal green screens.
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Top Gun: Maverick pays tribute to the original film with a shot of a crew member on the aircraft carrier. In both films, as Maverick approaches the carrier, Hondo (Bashir Salahuddin) stands on the flight deck and looks for the turning jet. In the original Top Gun, a younger crew member (also a mustachioed Black man, in fact an unknown extra on active duty in the US Navy) likewise stands on the flight deck and looks for the turning aircraft. They have the same facial expression in both scenes. These similarities suggest that the crew member in the original film is also Hondo, and that Hondo and Maverick share a career of working together.
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Tom Cruise was initially reluctant to make a sequel because Top Gun (1986) softened the depiction of war. In a 1990 interview with Playboy, he said: 'Some people thought Top Gun was a right-wing film that promoted the Navy. And a lot of kids loved it. But I want kids to know that war isn't like that... That's why I didn't go ahead and make Top Gun II, III, IV and V. It would have been irresponsible.'
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The film revolves around the F/A-18 Super Hornet, which is considered mediocre by today's standards. The reason was that the shoot required a two-seat US Navy aircraft capable of landing on an aircraft carrier. Even so, good pilots in this aircraft could defeat a superior enemy plane. A more capable option such as the Eurofighter Typhoon would have guaranteed victory, but it was not suitable for filming and would have broken the story.
Characters & Cast (92)
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Lieutenant Bradley Bradshaw's callsign was originally "Rascal" during casting, but after Miles Teller was cast he chose "Rooster" from among thousands of options he reviewed together with director Joe Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, reasoning that it belongs to the same bird family as "Goose," the callsign of his character's late father. Cruise, who also produced, gave the final approval.
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To prevent the severe motion sickness and loss of consciousness that ruined much of the supporting cast's aerial footage on the 1986 film, Tom Cruise personally designed a three-month aviation training curriculum for the new actors. The escalating program required the cast to build spatial awareness and G-force tolerance by progressing from single-engine Cessnas to Extra 300 aerobatic planes and Aero L-39 Albatros jets before they were allowed into the back seats of the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets.
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Tom Cruise was moved when he reunited with Val Kilmer: 'I was crying. You look at Iceman, he's such a powerful actor that he instantly became the character.' Jerry Bruckheimer explained that Cruise said, 'I won't make this film without Val.' Kilmer said, 'Maverick's rival was Iceman; the two of them belonged together like salt and pepper.'
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Jon Hamm worried that the character of Cyclone would come across as either unreasonably hostile toward Maverick or an ineffective air boss. The scenes were shot repeatedly to reflect both the tension and his interest in the mission's success. Hamm says, 'Not everyone can be the rebel, someone has to be responsible.' 'The last thing you want when playing someone who lays down the rules is to turn him into a one-note whiner. I got nice compliments about my performance; people said your superiors really do treat you like that. Nobody has a screaming sergeant mentality.'
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Val Kilmer's real children, Jack and Mercedes, appear beside his widow at Iceman's funeral, presumably as Iceman's children. There are also photos of Kilmer with his children when they were young in the entrance of the Kazansky house. Mercedes was on set while the emotional scene between Kilmer and Cruise was being filmed.
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Val Kilmer's last film. After battling throat cancer like his character, he reported in 2021 that he was in remission, but he struggled with the side effects of treatment. He died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025. Two days later at CinemaCon, Tom Cruise paid tribute to Kilmer: 'I want to honor my dear friend Val Kilmer. I can't tell you how much I admire his work, my appreciation for him as a human being, and how grateful I felt when he joined the first Top Gun and came back for Maverick. He gave us all so much with his performances.' A moment of silence followed, and Cruise ended with the words, 'Thank you Val. I wish you well on your next journey.'
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While Tom Cruise was in England for the Edge of Tomorrow shoot, he became friends with Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton had stated that he wanted to appear in a Top Gun sequel. While the production was in the casting phase, Cruise remembered his friend and offered him a combat pilot role. However, Hamilton regretfully declined the offer due to his commitments in the Formula 1 season.
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Cruise, a trained pilot, uses aviation jargon naturally. While taxiing the Darkstar, he reports 'information alpha'; this confirms that the pilot has received the most up-to-date weather and airport information. As he leaves the base in the stolen F-14, he says 'needle's alive'. Student pilots are taught to watch the airspeed indicator 'come alive' on takeoff; a motionless needle indicates a fault in the pitot-static system and that takeoff must be aborted.
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American fighter pilots' call signs usually stem from a significant mistake they made. Hangman got his name because he constantly abandons his wingman; Phoenix, presumably, because she survived a plane crash in flames. Bob is unusual: it means it is not a call sign at all, just his name. So he has never made a bad enough mistake, which may make him the most professional WSO in the fleet.
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Maverick's rank of captain is equivalent to colonel. By this point he should have been at least a two-star admiral, which leaves him two ranks behind. His by-the-book colleague Iceman is four ranks ahead of him (admiral). Reaching that rank typically takes 34 years; 36 years have passed in the film. Ice would have served as a full admiral for two years or more before retiring due to health problems.
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Rear Admiral 'Cyclone' Simpson resents Maverick remaining in flight status at the rank of captain and being protected by Iceman. Referring to the enemy having old F-14A Tomcats, he says, 'I think we're not the only ones holding on to old relics.' According to Warlock, Cyclone graduated first in his class at Top Gun two years after Maverick (class of '88).
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Casting director Denise Chamian wanted Austin Butler for the role of Rooster. Although Tom Cruise was impressed by Butler's talent, he found him too young for the role (Butler would have been 30, six years older than Cruise was in 1986). Butler turned down the role and chose Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood, while Chamian cast him in the lead role in Elvis.
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Penny Benjamin, played by Jennifer Connelly, was an admiral's daughter mentioned but never seen in the original film; it was implied that she had a scandalous relationship with Maverick. The script planned for Maverick to meet Penny for the first time in the bar after returning to Top Gun. However, director Joseph Kosinski realized that, given Maverick last knew her as a young girl, this encounter would be strange and that establishing a deep connection would feel forced. Reshoots added dialogue indicating that the characters had had an on-and-off relationship for years.
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Carole Bradshaw (Meg Ryan) was killed off-screen because of a desire to focus on new characters. Director Joseph Kosinski said, "I didn't want every story to keep looking back at the past; introducing new characters was important." For this reason, Ryan and Kelly McGillis (Charlie in the original film) were not invited to the sequel; they appear only briefly through archival footage from the first film.
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Tom Cruise was first offered a Top Gun sequel in 1990, while promoting the film Born on the Fourth of July. At the time, Cruise said, "making a sequel would be irresponsible." In 2010, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the original film's director, Tony Scott, found a story strong enough to convince Cruise, and official approval was given. Although Cruise and Val Kilmer wanted to take part, Scott's tragic death in 2012 put the project at risk. Developing a convincing story took years.
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Tom Cruise met with Sir Ridley Scott about directing the film. Ridley's brother Tony Scott had directed the first film, and Ridley had previously worked with Cruise on Legend (1985). Ridley politely declined, saying that this kind of fast-paced action film was not his style, but he drew up a list of directors who might be better suited to Cruise.
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Like the first film, this sequel was made in close cooperation with the Department of Defense's Office of Entertainment Media. According to an article in The Washington Post, the office provided jets, aircraft carriers, personnel and technical expertise. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Glen Roberts stated that they did not make any changes to the script, only paying attention to criteria of safety, accuracy, policy and suitability.
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"Fightertown U.S.A." (Miramar Naval Air Station) in the original film was real, but the base was transferred to the Marine Corps in 1997. In the sequel, "Fightertown U.S.A." still exists and has been moved to North Island Naval Air Station, 19 miles southwest of Miramar. This base is real but is not the actual home of Top Gun; the real Top Gun is now at NAS Fallon in Nevada. Because the Nevada desert would not make sense for a Southern California setting, a fictional location was used.
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In the first trailer in 2019, it was noticed that the patch on Maverick's jacket featuring the flags of Taiwan and Japan had been replaced with two fictional flags with the same color scheme. It was alleged that Paramount changed the patch to appease Chinese censorship and Tencent, which financed the film. Tencent later withdrew from the film, and the original flags were restored. The film was not released in China.
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Director Joseph Kosinski became a specialist in directing sequels to 1980s films decades later: Top Gun: Maverick arrived 36 years after the film it takes its name from, while Tron: Legacy (2010) came 28 years after the original Tron (1982). In both films, the aspect ratio is expanded for certain scenes in IMAX.
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Martin Campbell, Joe Johnston and Simon West were considered for the directing job. Campbell, being 75 years old, wanted to stay away from big-budget films. Johnston said he was a fan of the original film and that he could not come close to it. West's situation is unknown; years earlier he had a disagreement with Jerry Bruckheimer over Black Hawk Down (2001) and had gone off to direct Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).
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Director Joseph Kosinski said they first pitched the film to Tom Cruise in Paris, during a break on the set of Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Cruise was initially skeptical but became interested upon hearing the Rooster story. According to Kosinski, at the end of the meeting Cruise called Paramount Pictures and got the film greenlit.
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Joseph Kosinski never hid the pressure of making a sequel to an iconic film. In an interview with IndieWire before the release, he said he was surprised that in audience tests, those who had seen the first film and those who had not rated the film the same way: 'There was no difference between Top Gun fans and non-fans. I never could have predicted that.'
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Tom Cruise said he was initially hesitant about making a sequel because Top Gun showed war in a softened way. In a 1990 interview with Playboy, he said: "Some people thought Top Gun was a right-wing film to promote the Navy. And a lot of kids loved it. But I want kids to know that war is not like that... So I didn't keep making Top Gun II, III, IV and V. That would have been irresponsible."
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Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky dies when his throat cancer returns. In real life, Val Kilmer was also battling the same illness; because his vocal cords were severely damaged, he had to use a speech valve. This can be seen in the documentary Val (2021), recorded around the same period as his scene, which was shot in 2019. Kilmer communicates by writing his character, and at the end of the scene he speaks only two lines. Contrary to rumors that artificial intelligence was used, director Joseph Kosinski said in an interview with USA Today that the voice was only digitally edited and slightly blended for clarity. The idea that the character had throat cancer came from Kilmer. This was also Kilmer's last film; his cancer had gone into remission, but he died of pneumonia on April 1, 2025.
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The opening text is almost identical to the original film, but “insure” has been correctly changed to “ensure” and “men” has been updated to “men and women.” In 1986 there were no female combat pilots in the Navy; the first female combat pilot, Brigadier General Jeannie Leavitt, joined the Air Force in 1993.
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The target country is never named, only called a “rogue nation.” The red bird emblem on the Su-57s resembles the red star seen on the MiG-28s in the first film. The Su-57s are 5th-generation fighter jets, and by 2022 only a dozen had been produced; their only user is Russia. The attackers use F-14 Tomcats; only the US and Iran have used this aircraft. The US sold F-14s to Pahlavi Iran, and after the 1979 coup the remaining ones passed to the Iranian Air Force. The last US Tomcat was retired in September 2006, and the rest were scrapped to prevent parts sales to Iran.
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The Darkstar that Maverick test-flies is based on the Mach 6 unmanned aircraft concept; this concept was temporarily called the SR-72 and was announced by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in 2013. The aircraft was not expected to enter service before 2030. Darkstar's configuration closely resembles the SR-72 concept and its use of a turbine at low speed and a scramjet at high speed. The Skunk Works skunk and the Lockheed Martin logo are visible in many shots. Its predecessor, the SR-71 Blackbird, could reach Mach 3.0.
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When Maverick first arrives at Top Gun, he stands next to an F-14 “Gate Guard.” This aircraft is Maverick's plane from the 1986 film; beneath the canopy is his name, and on the nose are three aircraft symbols representing his three MiG kills. This scene was included in the trailer but cut from the film.
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Hangman is said to have shot down a Cold War-era aircraft. This refers to the downing of a Syrian Su-22 near Tabqa in 2017. It was the US Navy's first manned aircraft air-to-air kill since 1991 and was carried out by a Super Hornet. If Hangman's reputation rests on this achievement, it is impressive for a young aviator.
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The motorcycle Maverick races against a jet fighter is a 2019 Kawasaki Ninja H2 Carbon. This is a tribute to the first film, in which Maverick rode a 1985 Kawasaki GPZ900; the GPZ900 is the predecessor of the Ninja series. The same motorcycle from the first film also appears in this film.
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Bob wears a VFA-51 patch. This is a nod to the old squadron VF-51 Screaming Eagles, with which Viper flew alongside Maverick's father. VF-51 was disbanded in 1995 and has never been reactivated. Phoenix, meanwhile, wears a VFA-41 Black Aces patch, tied to the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident that formed the basis of the original film's climax.
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Two more nods to the original: when Maverick enters the classroom, the young pilots who mocked him at the bar the night before are embarrassed. In 1986, Maverick is similarly embarrassed when Charlie is introduced. At the end of the successful missions in both films, Maverick dives shamelessly at the tower.
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The mission in this film shares many elements with the Death Star mission in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope: a small group of fighters, flying through a trench while passing beneath defensive guns, targeting the opening of a small shaft to destroy the target; the successful shot is made by a pilot who does not use targeting technology and fires on instinct; the heroes are saved by the late intervention of a cocky pilot who was not part of the original mission. In the practice run, a pilot says, “Stay on target,” and both are shot down by Maverick.
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The reason the carrier group does not launch a Tomahawk missile strike on the SAM sites along with the enemy air base is that the SAM sites are too close to the target area. The resulting debris would reduce visibility in the air, lowering the pilots' chances of hitting the target and endangering the air intakes of the jet engines, almost guaranteeing the mission's failure and the pilots' deaths.
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The film diverges from the first film at an important point: this time Maverick scores a kill using his guns. In the original, all the MiG-28s were downed with missiles, and the F-14's cannon was never fired. This ran counter to the purpose of Top Gun Academy; the weapons school aimed to rely less on computers and missiles and to restore the hunter instinct through dogfight maneuvers and aircraft guns.
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Maverick and Rooster being shot down behind enemy lines and stealing an enemy aircraft is based on a real event that happened to Colonel Bruce Ward Carr in World War II. Carr was shot down over Germany on 2 November 1944, evaded capture for days, infiltrated a Luftwaffe airfield, stole an enemy aircraft and flew it to Allied lines. Unable to lower his landing gear, he made a belly landing and was taken for a German until he was recognized by the group commander. Carr, like Maverick, was a 'flying ace'.
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Maverick crashing and burning after breaking the speed record in the Darkstar is a tribute to Chuck Yeager's Starfighter crashing and burning in the 1983 film The Right Stuff. In both scenes the pilots emerge from the crash virtually unharmed in nearly identical flight suits; the difference is that Maverick's scene carries a comedic element.
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While Maverick and Penny are sailing, Penny says, 'Pull on the backstay to de-power the sails.' Maverick asks, 'What does that mean?' Penny replies, 'You're in the Navy, did you forget?' This resembles the moment in A Few Good Men where Cruise's Lieutenant Kaffee says, 'I'm not much of a boat guy,' and his commander responds, 'For God's sake, Kaffee! You're in the Navy!'
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In Japan, the film collaborated with the anime TV series Uma Musume: Pretty Derby. The series features a character named Mayano Top Gun, inspired by a racehorse named after the original film. Mayano is fond of using aviation terms and wears a bomber jacket similar to Maverick's. Chosen as a promotional pilot, the character replaced Maverick on one of the film's Japanese posters. Four Uma Musume voice actresses attended the film's Japanese premiere; Tom Cruise asked Mayano Top Gun's voice actress, Mio Hoshitani, to greet him by asking 'Do you copy?' and to say one of her signature lines: 'Copy!'
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The film pays tribute to the original Top Gun with a shot of an aircraft carrier crew. In both films, as Maverick approaches the carrier, Hondo (a Black man with a moustache) stands on the flight deck looking into the distance, searching for the returning jet. In the original, a similar extra stands with the same expression. This similarity suggests that the crew member in the original film was also Hondo, and that the two shared a career together.
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Deeper Meaning (1)
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The targeted country is never identified by name beyond "rogue nation". The markings on the Su-57 show a red bird with outstretched wings, similar to the red star in a coloured circle shown on the "MiG-28s" in the first film. The star and circle represent North Korea. The 5th Generation fighters are Su-57s, whose NATO callsign is Felon. By 2022 slightly more than a dozen had been produced, and Russia is their only operator. Finally, the aggressors have F-14 Tomcats. Only two countries used the Tomcat: the US and Iran. The US sold F-14s to Pahlavi Iran. After the 1979 coup, the remaining Tomcats went to the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. The last US Tomcat was retired in September 2006. Eleven are in a desert depot in Arizona. All remaining Tomcats not on display were scrapped to prevent their components from being sold in 2022 to Iran, which still uses the Tomcat.
Related pages
- Pollock — Top Gun: Maverick comes up in the facts on that page
- Miles Teller — Top Gun: Maverick comes up in the facts on that page
- Andrew Kevin Walker — Top Gun: Maverick comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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