10 Time We Absolutely Believed The Movie Hero Was A Goner

After a decade of delays, Top Gun: Maverick was finally released this year, and immediately blew away the competition. Even though director, Joseph Kosinski, could've just hit all the same beats as the original, this sequel surpasses its predecessor in every way.

Although we were all expecting the film to be a technical marvel, we weren't ready for just how emotional it was, especially the finale dogfight. After Maverick and his squad complete their mission, our titular hero is shot at, causing his feed to the communication centre to go silent. Even though the naval commander believes Maverick to be dead, the audience knows it'll take more than being blown up to kill Tom Cruise's character.

Shortly after, we see Maverick has crash-landed and is desperately searching for a plane. But after finding himself staring down a hostile gunship, it looks like he's screwed. Once again, the audience knew he was going to survive, and wasn't the slightest bit surprised when Rooster rescues him After the two pilots find a F-14 Tomcat, they prepare to return to base.

But as they are intercepted by enemy Su-57s, it seemed like Maverick and Rooster's luck finally ran out.

They are piloting a 30-year-old aircraft against top-of-the-line fighter jets.

They're out of missiles.

They don't have a single bullet.

Maverick may be a master of outmanoeuvring his fellow flyers, but it was obvious he had run out of countermeasures. Before Hangman swoops in to save the day, there was a moment where viewers absolutely accepted our heroes were dead meat.