Top Gun 2 Trailer’s Iceman Role Reveal Makes The First Movie Better

The latest Top Gun: Maverick trailer confirms Iceman’s role, effectively making the original film even better. Joseph Kosinski’s much-anticipated sequel comes almost four decades since Tony Scott’s first Top Gun film in 1986. Top Gun: Maverick doesn’t bring back many characters from its predecessor, but joining Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is Val Kilmer’s iconic character Tom “Iceman” Kazansky whose role—while seemingly minor—has largely been kept a secret.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Top Gun: Maverick has been delayed multiple times. With the studio now sticking to its May 27 release date, a brand new trailer has been released shedding some light on what fans can expect from the long-awaited sequel. The film will see Maverick back at TOPGUN teaching a new generation of elite pilots for an extremely dangerous mission. There, he comes across Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of his former RIO, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). Aside from his connection to the Bradshaws, Top Gun: Maverick is also revisiting the character’s friendship with Iceman. 

After keeping Kazansky’s role under wraps, the new Top Gun: Maverick trailer finally reveals how he fits into the story. Apparently, Iceman is the one who vouched for Maverick to train a highly-skilled group of young pilots for a special mission. Now an admiral, Iceman knows what his former TOPGUN rival and ally is capable of, and it is nice to know that the pair remained friends—or at least, on solid footing—over the years. This makes the beginning of their relationship in Top Gun so much better.

Fans may recall that when Maverick and Iceman first met each other in 1986, it’s clear they were sizing each other up. They wanted to emerge top of their batch, and until the very end, they were neck-and-neck in standings—until Maverick had an emotional breakdown because of Goose’s death during an exercise. Despite that, the pair reconciled their differences after Maverick refused to leave Iceman without a wingman during a crisis situation. Now, it seems like Kazansky is still paying back that debt of gratitude by giving Maverick this career opportunity.

In any case, Iceman’s suggestion isn’t purely based on his personal relationship with Maverick, as he is well aware of his skills as a pilot. This is not clear to everyone, including Jon Hamm’s Vice Admiral Cyclone, who is clearly not impressed with Maverick’s return to the skies. But even Ed Harris, who plays his superior, is well aware that he is a gifted aviator, and it seems like he’s well aware that Maverick has been sabotaging his own career for him to be stuck as a captain after all these years. Between that and Iceman’s personal backing, Mitchell is given the job to lead this new breed of Navy pilots. That being said, it also puts more pressure on him to do well in his new job considering the support that he’s given.

Unfortunately, that isn’t going to be easy, with Rooster already making it known that he doesn’t trust his dad’s former flying partner. The marketing for Top Gun: Maverick has intentionally kept Kilmer’s involvement a secret. But while fans have yet to actually see him back as Iceman, it’s great to know that the sequel was able to find a way to make Iceman integral to its story. Otherwise, his appearance might just feel like a shoehorned cameo to reference that original Top Gun film. 

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