Top Gun: Maverick shows off a new hypersonic jet called the Darkstar - but is it real? From the release of the film's first trailer, aviation enthusiasts have noticed Maverick's sleek black jet, theorizing as to its origins. As it turns out, the aircraft seen in Top Gun: Maverick's intense opening scene may actually have a real-world relative.
Top Gun: Maverick opens with Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) test-flying a jet that is referred to as the Darkstar. The aircraft is incredibly high-tech, sporting all sorts of bells and whistles, and even goes up to slightly over Mach 10. With most of being practical instead of CGI, many of the aircraft are either real or modified versions of real jets. However, due to the Darkstar's capabilities and appearance, some viewers have questioned the jet's origins.
Top Gun: Maverick's hypersonic Darkstar jet actually has some surprising real-life origins. The triangular black jet is incredibly similar in design to the SR-71 Blackbird, one of the fastest planes ever created. The SR-71 is capable of outrunning missiles and can get up to Mach 3. While the Darkstar is very similar to this jet, the SR-71 is only a partial inspiration for Maverick's Mach 10 aircraft. In fact, the Darkstar is actually based on a much cooler jet: the unreleased successor to the SR-71.
As reported by real jet fighter planes in Top Gun: Maverick. Maverick director Joseph Kosinski revealed that the design for the film's planes (including the Darkstar) are lifted from experimental aircraft created by Skunk Works, Lockheed's advanced development program. So, with all that being said, it is incredibly likely that Top Gun: Maverick took inspiration from the unreleased hypersonic SR-72 when deg the Darkstar. The SR-72 is the follow-up to the SR-71, and it is designed to fly at six times the speed of sound. The development costs for the jet are expected to be over $1 billion, and Lockheed has said that it could be operational by 2030. Because of the SR-72's legendary status and immense power, the possibility that Maverick's Darkstar took inspiration from it is incredibly interesting.
While the Darkstar is modeled after the SR-72, Tom Cruise doesn't actually get to fly one in Maverick. Demonstrations of the SR-72 aren't expected to start until at least 2023, meaning that it isn't even confirmed if the jet is in a flyable state. Operating an SR-72 would also bring about national security concerns at a scale that wouldn't be worth risking for a movie. On top of all that, the SR-72 has no windows and is unmanned, which is clearly different from the Darkstar. While Top Gun: Maverick's Darkstar jet is based on the SR-71 and SR-72, it isn't actually a flyable version of the legendary unreleased plane.
