Tom Cruise Will Not Fly Fighter Jets In ‘Top Gun’ Sequel

When Top Gun: Maverick flies into theatres over a year from now, fans might be disappointed to find out star Tom Cruise won’t actually be piloting one of the jets in the movie, despite previous reports.

All is not lost though, the actor-turned-stunt-maestro will be putting his pilot’s license to use — just not in ways Top Gun fans expected. According to EW, Cruise — a licensed pilot — has undergone additional training in preparation for the film, which will allow him to fly some sort of aircraft during the filming.

As expected, civilians aren’t able to use government equipment — you know, like bomb-dropping jets — hence the Cruise-less jets.

The actor-turned-thrillseeker has impressed swarms of movie-goers over the past several years and he’s committed himself to do his own stunts, regardless of how big they are. In his most recent outing, he flew a helicopter through the mountain ranges of Kashmir. Before that, Cruise took part in scaling a monstrous Airbus 400 as it was trying to take off during the filming of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

According to Rogue Nation director of photography Robert Elswit, a lot of preparation went into the Airbus stunt.

“Tom was in a full body harness and he’s cabled and wired to the plane through [its] door. Inside the aircraft was an aluminum truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom,” Elswit told THR. “He was also wearing special contact lenses to protect his eyes. If anything hit him at those speeds it could be really bad.”

“They were very careful about cleaning the runway so there were no rocks. And we took off in certain weather conditions; there were no birds. And he’s sort of protected by the way the air moves over the wing.”

With Cruise willing to do his own stunts, fans have long thought it’d only be a matter of time before the actor joined the superhero genre. Reports previously said Cruise was up for the role of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Tony Stark, something the actor denied to ComicBook.com.

“Not close,” Cruise said to ComicBook.com. “Not close, and I love Robert Downey Jr. I can’t imagine anyone else in that role, and I think it’s perfect for him.”

Cruise didn’t closed the book on joining the genre, however. He says it just needs to be the right fit.

“I look at a movie and I don’t rule anything out,” Cruise said. “It’s, ‘What’s the story? Does it interest me? Do I feel this is where the audience would like to see me in? What can I learn?’ And ‘What can I contribute?’ That’s how I choose my movies.”

Top Gun: Maverick flies into theaters on June 26, 2020.