Funny / Top Gun: Maverick

• When the Darkstar hypersonic plane prototype piloted by Maverick takes off and rockets past the security checkpoint shack Rear Admiral "Hammer" Cain is standing in front of, the shack's roof gets briefly lifted by the slipstream... but Cain stands still, barely moving despite the winds ripping past him. Inside the plane, Maverick briefly turns his head to have a look as if to jokingly say "Sorry!" It's as close to a Buzzing the Deck moment Maverick gets before the genuine article at the end. Also, when the camera goes back to the Admiral, there is dust all over his face and sunglasses.
  • When Admiral Cain barges into the Darkstar's ground control room and orders them to immediately abort Maverick's unauthorized test flight, Maverick responds by pretending to be having trouble understanding the Admiral through his radio.
  • After Maverick hits Mach 10, one of the technicians cheers and says where the Pentagon can stick their budgets... then Admiral Cain, who is in charge of said budget, shoots him an epic Death Glare.
• After pushing the Darkstar above Mach 10 and parachuting out of it due to critical failure at such a speed, Maverick enters a road restaurant, still wearing his flight suit and still somewhat shell-shocked, much to the awe and confusion of the restaurant's patrons and waiters. After drinking a glass of water, he asks where he is, and a little boy who was eating cereal candidly answers him "Earth," believing him to be an alien.
  • Even funnier if you know that this actually happened to Yuri Gagarin after his first spaceflight. He was mistaken for an alien by villagers when he asked for a telephone while wearing his orange flight suit and trailing a parachute.
• Maverick's futile attempt to charm Cyclone during his briefing:
  Warlock: You two have something in common. Cyclone was first in his class back in '88.
  Maverick: Actually sir, I finished second. Just wanted to manage expectations. [grins]
  [Cyclone throws a Death Glare]
• Maverick being coerced into A Round of Drinks for the House by Penny, who has a bell in her bar that she rings anytime someone has to be punished for not abiding by her rules^note As written in the hanging plaque by the bar's draft beer dispenser: "Disrespect a lady, the Navy, or put your cell phone on my bar, you buy a round." Extra hilarious, as Maverick kinda broke all three when he flirted with Penny, revealed that he pissed off another Navy Admiral, AND placed his phone on top of the bar while Penny was present..
  • Later on when Maverick tries to settle the tab, he finds that his credit card has been declined and he doesn't have enough cash on hand to pay the whole bill. Penny then rings the bell on the bar to signal that Maverick has welched on the bill, leading to Hangman, Payback and Fanboy (who don't know who Maverick is at this point) lifting him and literally tossing him from the bar. Their reaction when Maverick turns up as their instructor the next day is priceless.
  • What makes the above moment even better is that it's almost exactly how it plays out in the first film when Maverick and Goose react awkwardly when Charlie turned up as their civilian flight instructor at TOPGUN after Maverick flirted aggressively with her at a bar the night before with Goose as his wingman.
• When Maverick's trainees are introduced to each other at Penny's bar, all of them are suave, confident, and have macho callsigns such as "Hangman," "Phoenix," "Payback" and "Coyote,"... except "Bob," (which as his companions helpfully point out stands for "Baby On Board"), who not only stuns the other pilots with his very unmacho callsign, but spills popcorn on his uniform and has to clean it up in front of his new teammates.
  • It's easy to miss, but two of the other aviators are dubbed "Harvard" and "Yale."
• As Maverick is being introduced, the pilots, being extremely cocky the day before, slowly realize the man they made fun of the previous night is their instructor. Hangman, Coyote and Payback's expressions basically say Oh, Crap! we are screwed.
• Right at the start of his instructor duty, Maverick presents his students with an operational manual for the F/A-18E/F that he assumed that the graduates had already mastered everything it has to offer. He then promptly throws the entire thing into a trash bin, much to the chagrin of Cyclone, Warlock, and Hondo. Hondo even gives a wearied "And we're off," as if he had anticipated Maverick would do something like that.
• Hangman, without an ounce of irony, declares that Maverick needs an ego check. The audience, who knows that Tom Cruise didn't spend years creating a passion project called "Top Gun: Hangman" fully understand who is going to get the ego check.
• While training Dagger Squadron, Maverick tries to keep his impulses in check by telling himself to "try not to get fired on the first day."
• Payback suggests adding some stakes in case they get dead-aimed during the dogfight exercises, and proposes 200 push-ups despite Rooster's protests, to which Maverick agrees. Rooster ends up first victim to this and the others have a good laugh, even taking a selfie while they're at it... but then everyone underestimates Maverick and gets a taste of it eventually. And Rooster has to do it a second time.
  • The humor factor is amped up with the BGM being "Won't Get Fooled Again" as Maverick takes them down again and again.
  • Extra Funny: the Big "YES!" of said song cues just as Maverick buzzes Rooster, Payback and Fanboy by flying his Super Hornet right in the middle of the other two. Talk about Dynamic Entry.
• At one point, Hangman abandons Phoenix (letting Maverick shoot her down), and then loses sight of Maverick and asks Phoenix to spot him. She dryly replies "I'm dead dickhead", so she can't help. Bob gets in on it: "See you in the afterlife, Bagman." It then cuts to the three of them doing their push ups, with Phoenix giving Hangman a Death Glare all the while.
  • During that very same exercise, we get this exchange from Hangman and Phoenix:
    Hangman: He called you a man, Phoenix. You gonna take that?
    Phoenix: So long as he doesn't call you a man.
  • Maverick dryly notes the unorthodox tactic of abandoning a wingman during a fight. He neglects to mention that he himself got reprimanded for that once.
  • Also, the fact that Hangman's helmet spells his callsign H_NGM_N - like an incomplete game of Hangman.
• During another training exercise, this time with Rooster paired with Hangman, Hangman asks Rooster why there is so much tension between him and Maverick. Rooster declines to answer and goes back to trying to spot Maverick.
  Rooster: Now where the hell is he?
  [cut to a wider shot revealing Maverick has been underneath them]
  Maverick: Been here the whole time!
  • Rooster telling Maverick "I can go as low as you, and that is saying something" is both bitter and funny.
  • Rooster and Maverick then go into a downward spiral while trying to goad the other into bailing:
    Hangman: [perplexed] What is with these two?
• During training, the hard deck is established to be at 5,000 feet, with strict rules to not go below it. Lo and behold, Maverick eventually does, which lands him in hot water with Cyclone. After getting chewed out, Maverick places a file on Cyclone's desk, which he explains is a request to lower the hard deck. Cyclone's reaction is pure You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!. Warlock even sarcastically compliments his sense of timing afterwards.
• Penny expresses surprise that Maverick doesn't know how to sail:
  Penny: Aren't you in the Navy??
  Maverick: I don't sail boats, Penny! I land on them!
• After Maverick reunites with Iceman, the latter sincerely asks which one is the better pilot between them. Maverick simply responds that he doesn't want to ruin the nice moment they're having.
  • It can also be interpreted as Iceman having one last good-natured teasing with Maverick by reminding him who got first in class when they were at TOPGUN.
  • Additionally, at the beginning of their conversation, Iceman types on his computer (since he can't speak), asking Maverick to talk about work. Mav tries to deflect the conversation by asking Ice what he wants to talk about, but Ice, without breaking eye contact, simply points his finger back at the computer screen.
• The silly little dance Rooster does during the dogfight football scene.
  • The silly little dance Rooster does after playing "Great Balls of Fire" in the alternate version of that scene from the younger pilots' point of view. Rooster is just a guy who likes doing silly little dances.
• Maverick woos and beds Penny (an Old Flame of his). Penny wants to be an example to her daughter Amelia ("don't bring anyone home the first night")... and then, just like this, Amelia unexpectedly comes back home. Penny then shoves Maverick through the bedroom's window... and he lands in front of Amelia anyway.
  • Then Amelia excuses the awkward sight, on one condition: "Just don't break her heart again." Yeah, Pete, she knows.
  • On the topic of not bringing anyone home from a first date, Mav objects, pointing out that it's not their first date.
• After witnessing Maverick actually accomplishing the simulated run of the mission under the conditions he set (2 minutes and 15 seconds), Cyclone calls Maverick in and ponders about whether or not to get rid of Maverick and sacrifice his team's lives... or risk his own career by putting Maverick on the mission itself as the team leader. Maverick attempts to say something but is stopped by Warlock, who points out the rather obvious that Cyclone, who'd consistently dismissed the idea of Maverick flying on the mission the entire time before suddenly bringing it up here, is probably just asking a rhetorical question.
• While Rooster finally overcoming his hesitation and speeding up so the team can complete the mission within the time limit is a Moment of Awesome, it also leads to a hilarious reaction from Payback as he was unprepared for the sudden increase in velocity and has to catch up:
  Payback: Jesus, Rooster! Not that fast!
• After shooting the gunship that threatened a downed Maverick and parachuting from his shot down F-18, Rooster has an argument with Maverick, who can't believe he almost got himself killed like that. He asks what Rooster was thinking - to which Rooster's response is that the senior pilot told him "don't think" when he's flying. Maverick can only gawp while Rooster makes a hilarious "well, there ya go" gesture, and they both promptly admit it's good to see each other.
  Maverick: What the hell were you even thinking?!
  Rooster: You told me not to think!
  Mav: (speechless)
  Rooster: (nods, then shrugs)
  • At least one reviewer has compared this to the reaction of a parent hearing their kid throw their own words back in their face during an argument.
  • A moment of Mood Whiplash after Rooster gets shot down: Maverick runs up to him, he asks him if he's alright. As soon as Rooster confirms that he's in one piece, Maverick tackles him angrily. Even funnier is the music abruptly stopping as if to say exactly what Rooster says: "What the hell?"
• While sneaking through the enemy airfield, Maverick chides Rooster for looking too suspicious and tells him to simply walk and look forward because it would look less suspicious than running around looking confused. This lasts about halfway there before they realize everyone else is running way too close to them and both begin awkwardly running toward the hangar trying not to get spotted.
• Rooster's You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! expression when Maverick's plans to flee the enemy territory involves... stealing a F-14 Tomcat in the enemy base, which he rightfully describes as a "museum piece."
  Rooster: You've gotta be shitting me.
  • Even Maverick isn't too thrilled with the age of the plane and how long it's been since he's been in a F-14.
    Maverick: [eyeing the controls and freezing up for a moment as he considers them] Okay, Wow. It's been a minute, hey Mav?
  • Maverick feels completely at home in such an aircraft he piloted for years, while his new Guy in Back Rooster... is a bit lost with all these buttons from the analog era. When he asks Maverick for help, he dryly admits he doesn't know much more than he does.
    Rooster: There's 300 breakers back here. Anything more specific?
    Maverick: I don't know. That was your dad's department.
  • Also, Rooster's response to seeing Maverick actually about to attempt takeoff.
    Rooster: Mav, this is a taxiway, not a runway. This is a very short taxiway, Mav!
  • Also worth mentioning Rooster closing his eyes and dejectedly accepting his fate as Maverick nearly crashes the F-14.
• When they manage to actually take off, they are then intercepted by the remaining two SU-57s. They begin to engage in a series of hand signals, with Maverick informing them his radio is down. When they tell him to turn around and go back to base, Rooster asks him what they are saying, to which Maverick responds in a tone that heavily implies he's lying that he has no idea what they're saying. ^note The enemy pilot tells him to change his bearing to 330 degrees, or back to the airbase; the fact that American pilots were able to decipher this likely means Maverick indeed was lying about not knowing it.
• After Hangman saves Maverick and Rooster from the last enemy plane, he decides to relieve the tension with a joke, but still can't help using it as an opportunity to brag about what he just did:
  Hangman: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, this is your savior speaking. Please fasten your seat belts, return the tray tables to their locked and upright positions and prepare for landing.
• Of course, Maverick cannot resist Buzzing the Deck of the aircraft carrier at the end. What sells this is Cyclone's face that shows us he is aware that this is one of Maverick's well-known antics.
• The left engine of the F-14 flares out right as Maverick and Rooster are coming in for a hard landing with no forward landing gear and no tail hook.
  Rooster: Please don't tell me we lost an engine...
  Maverick: [blithely] Alright, I won't tell you that.
• Rooster pretty much abusing "Holy Shit!" a lot during the last mission.
  • During the fight with the 2nd SU-57, Rooster telling Mav to do "some of that pilot shit" - especially funny when he gave a serious talk about "It's Not The Plane, It's The Pilot" before the dogfight started.

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