While Top Gun gleefully embraced its own silliness, the latest trailer for the cult classic’s long-awaited sequel proves that Top Gun: Maverick can make light of its more over-the-top elements. Reboots and sequels often have a tricky time finding the right tone. In the years between movies coming out, the style of blockbusters can change and the tone of the original movie can sometimes now feel outdated or corny.

For example, it is a big ask for Top Gun’s much-anticipated sequel Top Gun: Maverick to recreate the original movie’s goofy, larger-than-life sports movie vibe. While Val Kilmer’s Iceman may return in Top Gun: Maverick, seeing the aging actor continue to compete with a fifty-something Tom Cruise in a spirited game of topless beach volleyball could be an unintentionally hilarious sight. The actors are older, blockbusters have gotten a lot more self-aware and serious and, as such, the tone of Top Gun: Maverick can’t simply replicate the goofy, high-octane fun of the original Top Gun.

Related: Why Jon Hamm’s Comments Are Good News For Top Gun 2

Fortunately, Top Gun: Maverick appears to be aware of the tonal disparity between modern blockbusters and the original Top Gun. One moment in the movie’s trailer sees Glen Powell’s Hangman eagerly correcting his colleague Phoenix when she introduces him as “Bagman,” only to be met with a pithy “whatever.” The joke is evidence that the sequel won’t be taking call-signs as seriously as the original movie, allowing Top Gun: Maverick’s trailer to show that the franchise is aware of the original Top Gun’s more infamously over-the-top elements. In Top Gun, Maverick, Iceman, Viper, and Goose are barely referred to by their real names, whereas already in its trailer alone, Top Gun: Maverick is starting to poke fun at the over-the-top machismo of the original movie.

Top Gun Maverick Tom Cruise Glen Powell

While it is entirely accurate that call signs often carry personal significance for service members, the way they replace real names in Top Gun adds to the movie’s cheesy '80s sports movie atmosphere. When it came to the movie’s tone, Top Gun’s screenwriters invented pilot rankings and trophies to make the movie feel more like a triumphant sports story than a depiction of the real-life military. However, the news that Iceman believably outranks hot-headed Maverick, alongside the trailer’s dismissal of call signs, proves that Top Gun: Maverick isn’t as quick to drop all vestiges of realism.

It is unlikely that Top Gun: Maverick will be the most grounded movie of 2022. The franchise doesn’t need gritty realism to work and, since the franchise prizes high-flying aerial stunts, it is only appropriate for Top Gun: Maverick to have some moments of over-the-top goofiness. However, Top Gun: Maverick’s trailer still provides compelling evince that the sequel won’t be afraid to mock some of Top Gun’s silliest excesses, beginning with the fact that the movie’s characters have real names outside of their call signs.

More: How Much Top Gun: Maverick Must Make To Out-Earn The Original Movie

Key Release Dates