Summary
AlthoughTop Gun 3’s story is exciting, the sequel can’t follow the franchise’s most compelling plot after Iceman died inTop Gun: Maverick. InTop Gun: Maverick’s ending, Tom Cruise’s reckless antihero Maverick finally grows up. Throughout the originalTop Gun’s plot, Maverick’s infamous need for speed led him to struggle with authority and teamwork. InTop Gun: Maverick, viewers learned that his attitude never changed later in life. Maverick was forced to learn from Goose’s son Rooster in the sequel’s climactic mission, finally slowing down as Rooster learned to embrace speed and fly higher.
This was a great ending, althoughTop Gun: Maverickdid ignore Rooster and Maverick’s most obvious similarity in its sequel story. Sadly, though,Top Gun: Maverickalso closed the door to another, even better plan for the franchise. Midway throughTop Gun’s sequel, viewers learn that the original movie’s Iceman is terminally ill. Iceman dies shortly before Maverick’s big mission, but not before reuniting with his old friend in the sequel’s best scene.Top Gun 3’s storycould have focused on all that Maverick learned from Iceman, but the series now needs to take a new direction.
Top Gun 3’s Character Return Fixes Top Gun: Maverick’s Tragic Twist
The news that 1 of Top Gun: Maverick’s supporting stars is happy to return for Top Gun 3 allows the series to perfectly end part of Maverick’s story.
Maverick And Iceman Can’t Learn From Each Other In Top Gun 3
Top Gun: Maverick Proved The Duo Never Changed
When the original movie ended,it seemed like theTop Gunfranchise would turn Maverick into more of an Iceman and vice versaas this would be the logical conclusion of both their character arcs. After Goose died and Maverick and Iceman buried their feud, the two characters seemed like they had a lot to learn from each other. Maverick was a hot head but an undeniably great flier, while Iceman was a cold-hearted jerk but not wrong to lecture Maverick about safety. Maverick could have taught Iceman to loosen up while his friend showed him how to fly right.
SinceTop Gun: Maverickwas Maverick’s redemption story, the plot needed to begin with him at rock bottom.
Unfortunately,Top Gun: Maverickkilled that idea when the sequel’s version of Maverick remained a renegade while Iceman was still a member of the establishment. They worked well together and were great friends, but never seemed to learn from each other. WhileTop Gun: Maverickoutdid the original moviein many respects, the sequel’s reduced role for Iceman meant that it couldn’t explore the similarities and differences between the two antiheroes. Furthermore, sinceTop Gun: Maverickwas Maverick’s redemption story, the plot needed to begin with him at rock bottom. This precluded the possibility of him learning from Iceman.
Maverick and Iceman needed to learn from each other’s extreme perspectives but never did.
Top Gun 3’s Story Can’t Teach Maverick Iceman’s Best Lesson
Iceman Was Never Really Wrong In Top Gun
As wild as it might sound,Iceman wasn’t entirely the villain ofTop Gun. Maverick was an excessively risky flier and did need to curb his dangerous recklessness, something that he could have learned from Iceman after the movie ended. Iceman’s outlook was undoubtedly clouded by jealousy and pettiness, but Maverick’s arrogance was deleterious, and the character even admitted as much inTop Gun: Maverick. As such, it is a shame thatIceman’s death meansTop Gun 3’s storycan’t revisit this idea. Maverick and Iceman needed to learn from each other’s extreme perspectives but never did.
This was unfortunate since it undercut the hard-won friendship that the pair shared inTop Gun. In the original movie’s ending, Maverick seems to have a bright future ahead of him with Charlie and Iceman. By the timeTop Gun: Maverickbegins, Iceman has long since left Maverick behind thanks to his many promotions and Charlie doesn’t even warrant a mention. Iceman still has plenty of time for his old friend, but their lives have gone in profoundly different directions. The pair could instead have accentuated each other’s strengths if they worked together.
Top Gun 3 Could Still Salvage Iceman and Maverick’s Story
Top Gun: Maverick’s Best Scene Set Up A Fitting Future
Luckily,Iceman’sTop Gun: Maverickappearance can save his role inTop Gun 3.InIceman’s perfect sequel cameo, he helped Maverick learn how to reach Rooster.Top Gun 3could reveal that he left behind a few more lessons that allow Maverick to become a great tutor while simultaneously learning to handle his own infamous need for speed. After all, Iceman knew that he wanted Maverick to teach the new generation of recruits, and he also knew that Cruise’s antihero wasn’t a confident tutor.
It would make sense forTop Gun 3to bring back Iceman for a posthumous cameo.
The perpetual rebel Maverick couldn’t see himself as a teacher, so it would make sense forTop Gun 3to bring back Iceman for a posthumous cameo. Iceman could have created any number of aids to help Maverick gain confidence as a tutor, and these could let Maverick look back on the pair’s friendship in the sequel. Thus,Top Gun 3could still let Maverick learn from Iceman even thoughTop Gun: Maverickkilled him off before this could happen on-screen.
