It has been over three decades since the original Top Gun came out. Top Gun: Maverick has a lot to live up to. It must be hard trying to balance out a long waited sequel like this with new content along with callbacks.
Fans of the original are looking for nods and Easter Eggs while new fans are just trying to watch an action movie. Does Top Gun: Maverick go overboard on the callbacks or does it have a perfectly balanced amount? The sequel falls somewhere in the middle with nothing feeling too out of place. Let’s take a look at the best callbacks with full spoiler goggles on for both films.
7 The Opening
Top Gun opens with a bunch of jets landing on a Naval carrier. This is done while “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins is playing in the background. There is no dialogue exchanged here.
This was done to seemingly set the mood back in the 80s. It’s like it was saying this is a movie without a huge plot. We are all about jets flying around and the officers that pilot them. This is exactly how Top Gun: Maverick opens as well, and the song is included. The scene is much shorter but it still brings the pro-Navy vibes.
6 Great Balls Of Fire
“Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis is one of the catchiest tunes to this day. It’s also part of one of the most iconic scenes in Top Gun wherein Goose starts rocking out in a small cafe. Goose, his son, and his wife are there along with Maverick and his new love interest, Charlie.
There is no reason why Rooster, Goose’s son, decides to play “Great Balls of Fire” at The Hard Deck in Top Gun: Maverick. The only reason is for the callback. While it doesn’t make sense, it’s still a nice nod. It also triggers Maverick to have a flashback about Goose thus showing the audience that he still hasn’t forgiven himself for Goose’s death.
5 Rooster
Rooster, as a character, is also a callback on multiple levels. He’s one of the biggest characters to return from the original film. A big part of Top Gun: Maverick’s plot is how Maverick and Rooster haven’t gotten along in all this time.
Perhaps the biggest callback about this relationship is when Rooster becomes Maverick’s co-pilot. It’s like old times. Maverick is wildly shooting at enemies while Rooster is in the back, sitting in for his father, helping out his brother in arms. Thankfully the film ends without Rooster ending up like his father. That would have been too dark of a callback for a sequel.
4 Maverick’s Upside Down Maneuver
One of the earliest scenes in Top Gun, before Maverick and Goose make it into the Top Gun program, has the two pilots intercept a pair of MIGs. Maverick shows off by going above the enemy, upside down, and Goose takes a picture to commemorate the occasion.
Maverick doesn’t do this to an enemy again in Top Gun: Maverick. He instead teases his students while they are training. There is no picture involved this time but the scene proved that Maverick still had those killer piloting skills. As they say multiple times in the film, “It’s not the plane, it’s the pilot.” The very idea of there being a school segment is also like a callback.
3 Playing Beach Sports
Another iconic scene in Top Gun has the pilots take a break from their schooling to play a little game of volleyball on the beach. It was one of those scenes which could have been shot just for the ladies as all the actors were ripped and glistening in the sun. Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer, in particular, were god-like.
In the sequel, Maverick has his students play football instead. It’s not exactly a 1:1 reference to the original movie. It’s still a sports scene that takes place on a beach. It’s as close enough as Top Gun: Maverick needed to get to have that nostalgic feeling flowing.
2 The F-14 At Enemy Base
The F-14 fighter jets are what Maverick and the rest of the officers in Top Gun piloted. It has been over thirty years since that film took place and those jets are extinct in both the movie and in reality. However, for whatever reason, the enemy base at the end of Top Gun: Maverick has one on storage.
It’s a callback that doesn’t make sense. Why would the one jet not damaged by the Naval missile barrage be a jet that Maverick became so good at? It’s also the jet he has a connection with regarding Goose and Rooster is there to spiritually take his place. It doesn’t add up but regardless of the questions, it did lead to a fun action scene.
1 The Finale Celebration
Top Gun ends with a climactic action fight in the air against a bunch of enemy MIGs. Iceman and Maverick settle the score in this fight, finally seeing eye to eye. After they land, they are greeted by everyone on the Naval carrier rushing to their jets to celebrate.
Maverick and Iceman bury the hatchet and shake hands in this scene as well. It’s a sweet moment to end the film on. After the final confrontation in Top Gun: Maverick, all returning jets are also met with a party onboard the Naval carrier. Maverick and Rooster make peace and Hangman also makes good with Rooster. That’s the closer 1:1 comparison between the two films. Hangman is almost identical to Iceman. The big exception is that Iceman never left his wingmen high and dry. Rooster isn’t a lot like Maverick though.