Tom Cruise shared first image of himself as Maverick from ‘Top Gun’ sequel

In 1986, Tom Cruise solidified his status as a leading man in Hollywood with his role as Peter “Maverick” Mitchell in the military drama “Top Gun.” Now, the actor is poised to reprise his iconic role in a sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick.”

The new movie is due out July 12, 2019. Jerry Bruckheimer, who was a producer on the original film, will once again produce on the sequel directed by Joseph Kosinski (“Tron,” “Oblivion”). And now fans have gotten their first glimpse of the sequel thanks to an image of a promotional poster that Cruise posted to Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjbjBaRjE7H/?taken-by=tomcruise

‘The Need For Speed’

The poster features Cruise in character as the risk-tasking fighter pilot, helmet in hand with a jet in the background. The words “Feel The Need” appear across the image, a reference to the original film’s famous line, “I feel the need, the need for speed,” spoken in unison by Cruise’s character and his partner, Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). Cruise captioned his photo simply, “#Day1.”

Fans Are Ready For The Sequel

The photo has more than 250,000 likes, and fans are sounding off in the comments about their excitement over the upcoming film.

Carson Daly on NBC’s “Today” was getting into the Maverick spirit at the news.

And the team from the USS Midway Museum in San Diego seems to have their own version of Cruise’s iconic character celebrating the news of the film’s production getting started nearby!

And, of course, fans were making use of the on-point .gifs in their reaction posts, too!

Last year, Val Kilmer, who played Tom “Ice Man” Kazansky, fellow pilot and Maverick’s rival, also took to Instagram to express his enthusiasm for the sequel:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUfTzgoAa0R/?utm_source=ig_embed

Underneath a photo of himself wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the image of his character in the film, Kilmer wrote, “Friends said it’s official – #TOPGUN2 was announced today. I’m ready Tom – still got my top gun plaque! Still got the moves! Still got it!”

No other casting for the new movie has been announced for the sequel so it remains to be seen whether Kilmer and the film’s other stars — Kelly McGillis, Tom Skerritt, Meg Ryan and Anthony Edwards (whose character died in the first film) — will reprise their roles. Cruise’s character will now be an instructor, and the movie will be set in the present day. Further details appear to be under wraps for now.

While it may not seem possible, 30 years have flown by since Cruise hit the “Danger Zone” (get the Kenny Loggins reference there?) The original action-packed film brought in more than $356 million worldwide during its 1986 release.

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Cruise Shocked The World With Film Announcement

Last summer, Cruise shocked the world when he made an impromptu announcement on an Australian morning show about the sequel.

Even the hosts could barely contain their enthusiasm at the news.

“You just made my day!” exclaimed “Sunrise” host Samantha Armytage.

Are you excited to take the highway to the danger zone again?