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'Top Gun: Maverick' trailer takes Tom Cruise fans on a nostalgic trip, missing flags from hero's jacket spark controversy

The film is a sequel to the 1986 action-drama 'Top Gun' and the trailer was rolled out at the San Diego Comic Con 2019 to the excitement of fans

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA: After a 33-year wait, Tom Cruise is back in 'Top Gun: Maverick', the sequel to the 1986 action-drama 'Top Gun'. In a major surprise, the actor, who plays flight instructor Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, rolled out the trailer at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2019 and enthralled his fans.

The high-flying trailer takes viewers down memory lane with a sequence featuring Cruise racing an aircraft on a motorbike. Cruise even went on to call it "a love letter to aviation" on Conan O'Brien's show. Ever since the trailer released, there is much fan frenzy over the new installment on Twitter. Check out the official poster for #TopGun: Maverick starring @TomCruise. In theatres 2020," a tweet posted by Top Gun read.

Nostalgia in the air

Most people on the micro-blogging site were swamped by a feeling of nostalgia. Mark Hertling wrote: "When Top Gun came out in 1986, I was a Major teaching PE at West Point. I retired in 2013. The new Maverick has gotta be one crusty ole Navy Captain. But I’m still gonna see it! (BTW, after an orientation flight in a 2-seat F16, I have a cool call sign, too. 'Three Bags.')" Brian Cox wrote, "I watched the new Top Gun trailer without sound and thought ‘meh’. Then I watched it with sound and that first chime took me back over thirty years like a time machine - funny how music works!"  

Jen Hatmaker put out a tweet saying, "Top Gun: Maverick" is coming out, and even though Tom Cruise is a stonecold weirdo, I AM ALL THE WAY HERE FOR THIS. Take my money and bring on the volleyball scene 2.0."

Twitter user Aaron Bendele wrote, "I was obsessed with TOP GUN until 6th Grade so I should be excited about a sequel, but I feel ambivalent. I guess you could say I’ve lost that lovin’ feeling." Jen Mueller, meanwhile, tweeted: "New Mariners Matt Magill lives in San Diego. The only name he and his wife could agree on for their son was Maverick. His nickname his obviously "Goose" (I assume this all makes sense because everyone should have seen Top Gun by now)."

Sparking controversy

While the trailer and first look of the film seem pretty appealing, the missing flags on Maverick's jacket have become a point of controversy on social media. Apparently, the Japanese and Taiwanese flags on the original jacket have been swapped with two generic symbols in the same color scheme. Movie Details tweeted, "Top Gun - Flag details on the jacket worn by Maverick (Tom Cruise). Japenese and Taiwanese flags removed."

Meanwhile, there was much controversy about the jacket that Cruise dons in the new film. Mark MacKinnon wrote: "There’s a new Top Gun movie coming out. And Maverick is wearing the same leather jacket - only this time it’s Communist Party of China-approved, so the Japanese and Taiwanese flag patches are gone (screenshot on right is from the new trailer)..." "So apparently Paramount has given into the Chinese authorities. In the upcoming Top Gun film Maverick's leather jacket has been altered. The original version of the jacket, Maverick had a Japanese and Taiwan patch on the back of the jacket. It appears the patch has been replaced," Horror Town USA tweeted. 

Alternate plot twists

Expressing his excitement with an alternate plot-line, Dennis Detwiller wrote, "The TOP GUN sequel SHOULD be Maverick and Ice Man, now happily married and raising their kids in the suburbs of San Diego, but NOOOOOO. You couldn't even let me have that, could you universe?" and added, "For those think I'm not serious, I would absolutely LOVE such a movie. Maverick dealing with child drop off, mumbling, 'negative Maverick, the pattern is full...' It would be magic."

"The real plot to the new Top Gun is how Maverick didn't promote because he understood that his husband, Iceman, had the better career potential and took the hit on assignments," an account named @ForcePao tweeted. "I’m sorry, but Top Gun 2 as a concept would have been infinitely funnier if they actually had promoted Maverick to flag rank. Imagine a guy with the same attitudes and mannerisms from Top Gun now forced into an administrative role as a one-star on a combatant command’s staff," Luke O' Brien wrote on Twitter.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the movie is scheduled for a 2020 release by Paramount Pictures.