50 Fun Facts About Top Gun: Maverick

Who directed Top Gun: Maverick?

He had made Oblivion with Cruise and pitched the sequel with a lookbook, a poster and the title while Cruise was shooting Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

Whose memory is Top Gun: Maverick dedicated to?

The original's director had finalised a script and scouted locations with Cruise at NAS Fallon a week before his death in 2012.

What is the name of the hypersonic test aircraft Maverick pushes past Mach 10 in the opening?

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works engineers helped design it and a full-scale mockup was built at China Lake; Lockheed denies any link to its rumoured SR-72.

Which real Navy rank does Maverick hold at the start of the film, having never made flag rank?

More than 30 years after Top Gun his insubordination has kept him a test pilot rather than an admiral.

Which old rival, now Pacific Fleet commander, saves Maverick's career by sending him to Top Gun?

Val Kilmer, then recovering from throat cancer, had campaigned on Facebook to return; a trailer showed him in a four-star admiral's uniform.

What is the mission's target?

It sits in a bunker at the end of a canyon guarded by SAMs, GPS jammers, Su-57s and, oddly, F-14 Tomcats.

Why is an attack by F-35s ruled out, forcing Maverick's Super Hornet plan?

His plan uses two pairs of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets with laser-guided bombs and a low-level canyon run.

Who plays Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw, Goose's son?

He won the role in July 2018 over Nicholas Hoult and Glen Powell, and later pitched a sequel titled Top Gun: Rooster.

Why does Rooster resent Maverick?

Maverick had promised Rooster's dying mother that her son would never fly, a promise Rooster knows nothing about.

Glen Powell's cocky aviator had which call sign in the script he first read?

Powell initially found the character a one-dimensional 'Navy Draco Malfoy' and had to be talked into the part by Cruise and Bruckheimer.

Which actress plays Penny Benjamin, the bar owner and Maverick's old flame?

She was cast in July 2018 as a single mother running a bar near the base; the daughter was originally to be played by Thomasin McKenzie.

The Hard Deck bar set was inspired by which real establishment?

It was built on the beach at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado with the Navy's permission.

The dying admiral's advice to Maverick about Rooster is which line?

He also reassures Maverick that both the Navy and Rooster need him; Kilmer's real voice was used, digitally sharpened for clarity.

What is flown in the late admiral's honour at his funeral?

Rick Rossovich and Tom Skerritt filmed scenes for the funeral as Slider and Viper, but their material was cut.

How does Maverick prove his mission plan is possible after Cyclone relaxes the parameters?

Cyclone reluctantly makes him team leader afterwards.

Which two aviators fly the buddy-lasing F/A-18F alongside Maverick's lead jet?

Rooster leads the second pair with Payback and Fanboy; Hangman is held back as the emergency action pilot.

After both are shot down, which aircraft do Maverick and Rooster steal from the enemy air base?

They wreck the landing gear on takeoff and down two Su-57s before running out of ammunition.

Which type of helicopter hunts Maverick on the ground until Rooster destroys it?

Rooster disobeys the order to return to the carrier, kills the gunship, then is himself hit by a SAM and ejects.

Who unexpectedly arrives to shoot down the last Su-57 when Maverick and Rooster are out of ammunition?

He had been sidelined as the mission's emergency action pilot, waiting on the carrier deck.

What vintage aircraft does Maverick own and fly off in with Penny at the end?

Cruise really does own and fly a P-51; Matchbox even released a die-cast version alongside the F-14 and Super Hornet.

Which original cast members appear only in archive footage from the 1986 film?

McGillis and Ryan were not asked back; the Goose flashback was added by Kosinski in the edit while Rooster plays 'Great Balls of Fire'.

How much did the production pay the Navy per flight hour for Super Hornets and their pilots?

For external shots real Navy pilots flew single-seat F/A-18Es; actors rode in the back of two-seat F/A-18Fs with a Navy pilot in front.

How long was the flight 'boot camp' Cruise designed for the actors?

It built up g-tolerance via aerobatics in an Extra 300L and taught the cast to run the cockpit cameras themselves.

Roughly how many hours of aerial footage were shot for the film?

That exceeded the combined footage shot for the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Which cameras were used to shoot the film in IMAX format?

Six were rigged inside the cockpit, four facing the actor and two facing out, after a year of work with the Navy.

The vintage Grumman swing-wing fighter used in the film came from where?

No US F-14s still fly, and Iran's active fleet was off limits because of sanctions, so the museum airframe was shipped in pieces, engineless.

Which country, the only one besides the US to operate the F-14, was ruled out for Top Gun: Maverick due to sanctions?

The US scuttled or disabled its retired Tomcats to stop spare parts reaching that country.

The famous low pass that rips the roof off a guard shack was filmed where, and with what?

On the 20th and last pass, at under 50 feet and about 450 knots, the roofing came away, held only by cable.

Where has the Top Gun school been based since 1996, though the film keeps it in San Diego?

The crew still shot aerial footage there, while the story stayed at NAS North Island.

The Cascade Mountains flying sequences were flown out of which base?

Routes were scouted by helicopter and in an L-39 before the F/A-18s flew them.

Which Formula One champion turned down a fighter-pilot role offered through his friendship with Cruise?

He cited his racing commitments; Manny Jacinto took a role but later complained his lines were cut.

Which Chinese company invested 12.5% in the film and then pulled out in 2019?

It feared the film's themes would anger Beijing; the film was never released in China.

Which two flags vanished from Maverick's jacket in the first trailer, then returned in the film?

Fans accused Paramount of appeasing co-financier Tencent; once Tencent left, the patches came back.

What was the film's original scheduled release date?

The complex aerial sequences pushed it to 2020, then the pandemic pushed it four more times before May 27, 2022.

Which streaming service tried to buy the film during the pandemic, only to be refused on Cruise's orders?

Cruise insisted on a theatrical-only release, and Paramount later held it in cinemas well past the usual 45-day window.

How long was the standing ovation the film received at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival?

The screening included a tribute to Cruise's career; the next night's London premiere was the last Royal Film Performance of Elizabeth II's reign.

Approximately how much did Top Gun: Maverick gross worldwide?

It became the highest-grossing film of Cruise's career and the second-biggest of 2022 behind Avatar: The Way of Water.

The film's 29% second-weekend drop was a record for a $100M-plus opener, beating which film's 33%?

It stayed in the domestic top five for ten straight weeks and returned to number one on its 15th weekend.

Which 2025 film broke Maverick's record for the biggest four-day Memorial Day opening?

Maverick's $160.5 million four-day debut had nearly doubled Cruise's previous career best.

What rare CinemaScore grade did audiences give the film?

Critics agreed: 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus that it 'surpasses its predecessor'.

Which Academy Award did Top Gun: Maverick win from its six nominations?

It was also up for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song, Film Editing and Visual Effects.

Which Lady Gaga song was released as the first single from the soundtrack?

OneRepublic's 'I Ain't Worried' was the other single; Harold Faltermeyer returned from the original, joined by Hans Zimmer.

Which director declared that the film had 'saved the entire theatrical industry'?

Tarantino called it 'as close as we're ever going to get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie'.

Which Ehud Yonay magazine article inspired the original film and prompted a copyright suit against Maverick?

A court dismissed the suit in April 2024, finding no similarity beyond unprotectable historical facts.

Which frequent Cruise collaborator did rewrites during production and later confirmed he was writing Top Gun 3?

He flew with the Blue Angels in preparation and chose to mostly ignore the first film so the sequel could stand alone.

Which Japanese mobile game gave horse-girl character Mayano Top Gun an alternate movie poster as 'Maverick'?

Four of the game's voice actresses attended the Yokohama premiere and met Cruise and Bruckheimer.

Cruise was reportedly paid $12-14M upfront. With his share of the gross, what did his total from the film exceed?

Cruise had called the idea of a Top Gun sequel 'irresponsible' back in 1990.

Which UK software company worked with Val Kilmer in 2021 to recreate his voice with AI?

The model was built from archived recordings after throat cancer cost him his speech, though the film itself did not use it.

Which actor signed on to Top Gun: Maverick before receiving an official offer or even a script?

He plays Vice Admiral 'Cyclone' Simpson; Manny Jacinto joined the cast in September 2018.

Which Top Gun composer returned for Maverick, joined by Lady Gaga, OneRepublic and Hans Zimmer?

Lorne Balfe produced the soundtrack, released the same day as the film.