Top Gun Maverick: 9 More Things You Missed

Although Top Gun: Maverick’s ending was perfect, the long-awaited sequel needed to delete one scene to ensure that this climax worked. The Top Gun movies have cut some pivotal scenes to make the franchise’s story run smoother. Top Gun originally ended with Maverick visiting Goose’s grave, but this ending tested poorly since the sequence sapped the sunny blockbuster of its escapist mood. While the upcoming Top Gun 3 could revisit this scene and improve upon the original ending, the filmmakers were still right to cut this maudlin moment. Top Gun: Maverick’s first cut also faced a similar ending issue.

While Top Gun: Maverick’s ending was perfect, the lengthy final mission only worked because the movie spent most of its runtime meticulously setting up the stakes. Rooster and Maverick’s mutually disagreeable dynamic was resolved when they both tried to sacrifice themselves to save each other. Similarly, their many fights finally paid off when the pair had to work together to escape enemy territory. Top Gun: Maverick’s characters all had a role to play in the final scenes as Hangman saved the day and Penny ended up happily settled with Maverick after years of messiness between them.

Top Gun: Maverick Originally Included Top Gun’s Tomcat F-14

Director Joseph Kosinski said Top Gun: Maverick almost brought back the F-14 earlier

Top Gun: Maverick’s perfect ending was almost undone by a scene earlier in the movie but, luckily, director Joseph Kosinski opted to cut this great moment. According to the director, Maverick’s iconic F-14 was originally glimpsed by the franchise’s antihero as he entered the Navy Base early on. Kosinski said that Cruise’s character originally encountered a model of the F-14 and stared at it in the Coronado. In an interview with UpRoxx, Kosinski said, “Every Navy base has an airplane on a stick out front, like a model, and he pulls up and looks up and it’s his F-14.”

Like Top Gun’s original cut ending, this scene would have played havoc with the movie at large. After all, Maverick and Rooster eventually escaped the enemy base in a busted-up Tomcat F-14, a surprising nostalgic twist that viewers couldn’t have predicted earlier in the sequel. However, if an earlier scene featured a blatant nod to the F-14 from the original Top Gun, it would have been much more obvious that the famous fighter jet would come into play later on. By cutting this scene, Kosinski ensured that Top Gun: Maverick avoided a Chekov’s Fighter Jet moment and kept viewers guessing.

Top Gun’s Maverick’s Ending Needed Its Tomcat F-14 Surprise

Maverick returning to his old plane was a nostalgic surprise in the sequel

Maverick finding the F-14 in the enemy base was a perfectly calibrated moment of comic relief in the sequel. Before this moment, circumstances looked pretty dire for the veteran and Goose’s inexperienced son, Rooster. However, when Top Gun: Maverick reveals the famous fighter jet, it becomes clear that luck is still on Maverick’s side. While the scene might have worked even if Kosinski kept the earlier nod to F-14 in the movie, the sequel was better off keeping this twist a surprise until the finale. The element of surprise made Top Gun: Maverick‘s ending even stronger without the earlier scene.