Is there an after credits scene in top gun maverick

Top Gun: Maverick is the long-awaited sequel to Tom Cruise's 1986 classic Top Gun, but does it have a post-credits scene? Top Gun: Maverick is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also collaborated with Cruise on the post-apocalyptic movie Oblivion. Newcomers to the Top Gun franchise have as much to enjoy as lifelong Maverick fans, as the film does a good job of balancing legacy moments with adrenaline-fueled sequences, and surprisingly emotional storytelling.

Despite Top Gun 2's development hell and fears that it would not live up to the original, Tom Cruise delivers and continues his excellent form when it comes to action films. Cruise's Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is joined by the returning Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer) and a group of younger pilots, including Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (Monica Barbaro), and Robert "Bob" Floyd (Lewis Pullman). Using post-credits scenes to tease sequels and keep audiences around until the very end has become commonplace since the original Top Gun's release—but does Top Gun: Maverick buy into this modern trend?

Top Gun: Maverick does not have a post-credits scene. The movie ends with a short montage of the main cast members, including Tom Cruise—who of course performed his own stunts—followed by Captain Mitchell flying his P-51 Mustang into the sunset. Top Gun: Maverick also uses its credits to dedicate the movie to Tony Scott, the director of the original Top Gun movie who passed away in 2012. Tony Scott went on to work with Top Gun stars Tom Cruise in Days Of Thunder and Val Kilmer in True Romance.

Although it did not have a post-credits scene, speculation on a Top Gun: Maverick sequel has begun. Maverick did an excellent job of introducing new young characters, including Miles Teller's Rooster, who would be ready to carry forward the Top Gun legacy. Nothing has been announced by Paramount Pictures in the way of a third installment of the franchise, but given Top Gun: Maverick has been universally praised it wouldn't be a surprise if there was another sequel.

With its incredible airplane stunts, genuinely moving moments, and classic musical score, Top Gun: Maverick has quickly become one of the best-belated sequels in recent memory. The film handles the legacy elements of Top Gun well and smartly focuses on Tom Cruise's Captain Mitchell, where other long-lived franchises, like Star Wars, have been criticized for not giving its established characters enough screen time. Tom Cruise is set to release two new Mission: Impossible movies in 2023 and 2024, which will look to emulate the success of Top Gun: Maverick by breathing fresh air into a beloved franchise.

Next: How Much Did Top Gun: Maverick Cost To Make (& What Box Office It Needs)

With its final shot of a plane flying into the sunset, Top Gun: Maverick brings back an old end-credits tradition that adds to the movie's nostalgia. The Tom Cruise-led blockbuster has taken movie theaters around the world by storm, with Top Gun: Maverick grossing more than $1 billion at the box office and becoming just the second post-pandemic film (after Spider-Man: No Way Home) to do so. Arriving long after the 1986 release of the original Top Gun, Maverick has clearly been one of the most resonant legacy sequels of the modern age.

Top Gun: Maverick adds a special treat for audiences when it begins its end credits. As Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" plays on the soundtrack and the credits begin their upward crawl, the sequel shows the plane piloted by Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise), with his rekindled love interest, Penny (Jennifer Connelly), aboard, flying against a sunset. This sequence, showcasing Tom Cruise's very own P-51 Mustang, follows a credit montage of the principal cast of the movie and is not only a mirror to the original Top Gun's end credits, but it harkens back to a bygone era of movies.

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Prior to the turn of the century, end credits set against ongoing footage, such as sunsets or cars driving along a highway, were used with some frequency. The original Top Gun itself did this with its end credits, as did 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the 1990s drama Good Will Hunting, and many others. While that trend has fallen out of fashion (leaving post-credits scenes to become the dominant choice), Top Gun: Maverick bringing it back heightens the movie's charm of being a nostalgic throwback.

Top Gun: Maverick's End Credits Add To Its Nostalgia

Top Gun: Maverick features many nostalgic components, both from both its predecessor and from the 1980s in general. These include Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" playing during the opening credits, just as it did in the original, and Miles Teller performing "Great Balls of Fire," like his character's father before him. In particular, having both the opening and end credit sequences follow the examples from the first Top Gun tugs at the audience's heartstrings, as it makes them think back to that era of movies.

The Top Gun sequel is far from the only big hit in recent years to bank heavily on audience nostalgia, but Maverick and Penny's flight into the sunset successfully trades on nostalgia in ways that few other big movies have even tried. With the whole movie being a nostalgic sonnet, Top Gun: Maverick makes sure audiences leave the theater soaring down memory lane.

NEXT: Top Gun 3 Risks Undoing Maverick's Perfect Ending