Tom Cruise made a surprise appearance at San Diego Comic-Con to drop the first trailer for the upcoming Top Gun sequel.
It’s been 33 years since Top Gun first arrived in theatres. Originally based on a magazine article about the US Navy’s TOPGUN fighter program, it featured a young Tom Cruise make his way from a standard Navy pilot to a TOPGUN instructor and ace pilot, downing three enemy MiGs in a single sortie.
Well, they were actually Northrop F-5s done up in adversary colors, which was common practice for the US Navy back in the day. The Navy also provided technical assistance, a ton of footage for carrier operations, and the F-14 Tomcat (the famous interceptor that Cruise’s character flew), as help with editing for authenticity.
Now, Top Gun has returned for a sequel with a lot of changes. Yet, it still has the same musical score.
The trailer illustrates that Maverick is a captain now, although the trailer seems to indicate that he should be a much higher rank considering he’s probably well into his 50s. Instead of piloting the giant F-14 Tomcat, which was retired from service in 2006, Maverick flies the F/A-18E Super Hornet, the current primary fighter of the US Navy.
But there are also a lot of things that seem to have stayed the same. There’s still a topless volleyball scene, Maverick still rides a motorcycle, and there’s still a lot of authentic ‘80s sounds in the trailer’s music.
However, the trailer doesn't quite divulge much of the plot. The US Navy’s TOPGUN program was merged with Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada in 1996, so there shouldn’t be any mention of TOPGUN, save for an anachronistic callback to the first movie. There also isn't see anything that could be construed as an enemy aircraft, so there might not even be a whole lot of combat in this film.
Take a look at the trailer above and tell us what you think of it. Top Gun: Maverick arrives next June.