Top Gun 2: Why Iceman Outranks Maverick In The Sequel
In Top Gun: Maverick, the title character’s old friend Iceman outranks him by quite a stretch, prompting some fans to wonder how this came to be after the ending of Top Gun. The original 1986 cult classic Top Gun pitted Tom Cruise’s feckless, hot-headed Maverick against Val Kilmer’s stern, sensible Iceman. The ensuing rivalry between the duo accounted for most of the movie’s driving conflict, and their eventual bromantic reconciliation at the end ofTop Gun was, according to some fans, the original movie’s most triumphant moment.
However, despite Iceman and Maverick remaining firm friends between the original movie’s action and the events of its sequel, their professional standing has changed significantly. It is no surprise that Iceman is now a Vice Admiral in Top Gun: Maverick since the character has been employed by the Navy for decades. However, Maverick himself is still just a Captain, a development that has led some fans to question how such a sizeable professional disparity opened up between the two close friends.
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Despite their professional rivalry seeing the duo start from similar points, Top Gun: Maverick’s returning Iceman has progressed much further than Maverick. For comparison, Iceman’s Vice Admiral rank puts him three classes above Maverick’s Captain position. While Captain is a sought-after role, it ranks beneath both the one-star Rear Admiral Lower Half and the two-star Rear Admiral Upper Half, both of which rank below Iceman’s three-star Vice Admiral role in Top Gun: Maverick. So, what does this disparity say not only about Maverick but also about Iceman? The answer is that Maverick’s impressive acumen as a test pilot was always going to
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