Thread by @graemeknows

I have a theory about what’s really going on in #TopGunMaverick. It’s full of #spoilers so reader please beware. If you’ve already seen the film and you feel the need, click through and read this thread.

The theory can be summed up easily enough: Maverick is dead and what we’re seeing is some sort of purgatory or last vision before death. But, how can that be? It’s simple. Maverick did not survive the hypersonic test flight crash.

Unless I am mistaken, no one can bail out at Mach 10+ and survive. And even if he did get out, Darkstar violently broke up and burned as it came down. The aerodynamic forces, let alone the heat and wreckage, would have instantly killed him. Yes, even Maverick.

The next thing we see is the diner on "Earth." Everyone in there is dead. Most of them, including the kid, don’t know it. That’s why they all look so shocked. It’s not how he looks. It's what they’re realizing. There are other clues in that scene. You just need to look closely.

From that point on, everything we see occurs post death as Maverick fails to see what has actually happened. Iceman, who is also dead and likely has been for a long time, repeatedly tells Mav that it’s time to let go. Ice knows the truth. He's already accepted it.

But, Ice isn't talking not letting go of Goose. He's talking about letting go of life. Mav even sees his own funeral but misinterprets it as Ice’s funeral. It’s not. It's his and he struggles with the stages of grief as he comes to terms with his own mortality and fate.

Plus, in the original Ice said “you can be my wingman anytime.” They're still together. Ice is helping Mav come to terms with his end and helping him move on. He goes first. Mav is on his wing.

Moving on, Ed Harris as Admiral Cain, named for a character in the Bible (a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God), looks and sounds remarkably similar to James Tolkan as CDR Tom "Stinger" Jardian, Commander of the USS Enterprise Carrier Air Group, in Top Gun (1986.)

Cain even says things that are WAY too similar to the original dialogue. Why? Because that’s all Maverick knows. He can only hear what he wants to hear as he resists letting go.

Rooster isn’t Goose’s son. That's Goose. Think about it. He looks like Goose. Sounds like Goose. Talks, sings, acts, walks, dresses, and fights like Goose. It IS Goose and he is giving Mav a shot at redemption the only way Mav could possibly interpret it in death: a rescue.

Plus, Rooster looks absolutely nothing like the kid in the first film. And the ages don’t line up anyway. But, I digress.

Some of the plot points seem too good to be true, even for Mav. His credit card bounces in the bar but he owns his own P-51 Mustang, which he apparently has no issue affording to maintain? COME ON NOW.

If the card bounces, he has to come back and see Penny (who relates to the myth of Charon's Obol where pennies are placed on the eyes of the dead as a payment used to ferry them into the Underworld.) She’s guiding him into death. EVERYONE IS GUIDING MAV TOWARDS THE LIGHT.

Let's not forget that angels are usually depicted as humans of extraordinary beauty. They are often identified in artwork with wings and divine light. So, you know, hot pilots at the beach. Am I right?

Anyway, let's consider the mission that Mav is assigned to which, if you’ll excuse the term, is impossible. It’s too perfect. It’s obvious that he has to fly it. It's obvious that it's about redemption. Mav has to prove to himself that he can make it through to the other side.

No wonder he’s surrounded by people named Hangman, Payback, Halo, and, especially, Phoenix. Her name literally means to rise from the ashes. Not to mention they repeatedly refer to parts of the impossible mission as “miracles.”

Let’s consider a few other things. Mav and Rooster both survive crashing their planes only to land near each other, in perfect health? The log Mav jumps over can absorb the heavy cannon fire from the helicopter? And then they just roam free and clear into the enemy base? WHAT?

The F-14 at the destroyed enemy base is just sitting there, fueled up, armed and ready to go? He can take off on a tiny taxiway with no catapult? Look, Mav is good but no one is THAT good. And why didn’t anyone see them steal the F-14? Because the living can’t see the dead.

Did you notice how most of the movie is one long, drawn out sunset? It's because the light of Mav's life is fading and now he knows it. After all, Mav and Penny literally fly into the light at the end. He finally let’s go and passes into eternity. He has paid his debt.

Seeing as Rooster acknowledges the photos of Goose and Maverick in 86 at the end of the film, it’s possible that neither one of them survived the events of the first film and the entire sequel is showing us their combined purgatory. But that’s a different thread for another day.