Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick exceeded fans’ expectations and became one of 2022’s top-grossing movies. It is indeed not a surprise anymore given the popularity of the lead star as well as the franchise’s legacy, though it is still a wonderful feat that immensely changed the world of cinema.
Apart from the incredible action scenes and powerful emotional core, fans loved the unique storyline that almost made them believe not everything seemed real, as if it was all just a dream. In fact, a plausible theory emerged that actually made viewers think there is a grain of truth in it.
Top Gun: Maverick Theory Suggests It Was All A Dream
Top Gun: Maverick takes place thirty-six years after the events in the original movie, and it follows Tom Cruise’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell who was serving as a test pilot for the U.S. Navy. Right after an unfortunate test flight of a hypersonic scramjet, he was forced to become an instructor for the TOPGUN program.
The opening scene showed the reason, as clear as day, as to why he returned, but another point of view explained that there could be a darker mystery to Maverick’s reassignment. A theory via Vulture suggested that Cruise’s character actually perished in the opening scene and the rest of the film was merely a death dream. Here’s an excerpt:
“It’s more fun to imagine the film is a death dream, an Incident at Owl Creek Bridge fantasy taking place in the instant before Maverick blinks out of existence high above the Mojave Desert.”
It is truly difficult to believe that anyone can endure such an intense explosion that ripped a hypersonic jet across the sky, and yet, Maverick still survived.
“After all, Maverick crashes twice in the sequel, the second time during the final act of the film, in a heroic act of self-sacrifice over enemy territory after a series of implausibly acrobatic aerial maneuvers. But the first — the first crash is genuinely weird.”
There were also ambiguous parts in the movie that required explanation, like how Maverick and his team faced an unknown enemy and, more strangely, how his penalty for insubordination was a raise in position. The theory, indeed, makes more sense than all the acts that took place in the entire movie.
Since this is a work of fiction, most protagonists would definitely have to survive, though the circumstances presented were almost not quite compelling. Hence, there is more possibility that the theory is entirely reasonable.
Top Gun 3 Is Now In The Works At Paramount
Of course, the intriguing theory will only be answered in the upcoming third installment of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun franchise. The sequel has been confirmed, and the lead actor will reunite with his co-stars Glen Powell and Miles Teller.
There is no surprise here anymore given the massive success of the previous movie which earned over $1.496 billion worldwide. Director Joseph Kosinski is also expected to return, and Paramount has also commissioned screenwriter Ehren Kruger to pen the script.
Top Gun: Maverick won an Oscar award last year for Best Sound and was nominated for six other categories, including Best Picture. Certainly, Cruise will have a busy year ahead as he also prepares for his other huge project, Mission: Impossible 8.
