While it may have taken more than three decades for Top Gun: Maverick to happen, this gap is actually an advantage — because Tom Cruise's experience in the Mission: Impossible franchise will make the Top Gun sequel better. Fans have been waiting for a Top Gun sequel for quite a while now, but it's finally happening with the Joseph Kosinski film bringing Pete "Maverick" Mitchell back on the big screen. This time, however, he'll be around his contemporary pilots including his former RIO, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw's (Anthony Edwards) son, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller).

While fans had to wait 34 years between Top Gun films, there hasn't been a scarcity of Tom Cruise on the big screen. The actor has starred in different movies from varying genres, but is best known for action-adventure projects due to his penchant for doing stunts himself. The six-film Mission: Impossible franchise has benefitted greatly from this as Cruise continues to raise the bar when it comes to action sequences with very minimal CGI. He's climbed the Burj Kalifa in Dubai in Ghost Protocol; clung to the side of an Airbus 400 at full speed in Rogue Nation; and hung from a helicopter and skydove in Fallout. Still, there are no signs of stopping him as he currently works on the seventh installment from the film series.

Related: Top Gun’s Movie Future Could Be Very Exciting After Maverick

Fans can trace Cruise's first experiences of doing his own crazy stunts to Top Gun. For the film, the actor actually learned how to fly a plane — something that he was adamant that his Top Gun: Maverick co-stars also do. Over the years, he has talked about his preparation process to play the skilled naval pilot, and while it's been a long time since he's reprised the role, his outings in the Mission: Impossible films have played a part in making sure he's more than equipped to step into the shoes of Maverick.

Mission Impossible Fallout skydive with Tom Cruise

Knowing what he can do in of stunt work thanks to his experience in the Mission: Impossible films, Cruise can apply that knowledge while filming Top Gun: Maverick. The actor has been proud of how they shot the sequel, saying that there's no movie that has been filmed the way they did it. This includes very little use of CGI and his castmates actually flying planes while playing their characters as he wanted it to be as rooted in reality as possible. He also previously revealed that he and his team studied how they can properly capture sequences on camera that involved elaborate flying stunts. Since he's shot several aerial action scenes in the Mission: Impossible movies — the latest of which was in Fallout where they staged a helicopter chase in a mountainous region, it's safe to say whatever he's learned from those movies, he applied on Top Gun: Maverick.

Aside from the technical aspect, Cruise's role in the Mission: Impossible films also helps the branding and marketing for Top Gun: Maverick. Because of his commitment to elevating stunt work in each of these films, openly doing death-defying acts for the sake of the movies' quality, the actor has earned his real-life reputation as a daredevil — just like Maverick is. As he reprises his role as the fearless pilot, viewers now see the similarities between the actor and his Top Gun character, something that won't be possible had it not for his role as Ethan Hunt.

More: Top Gun: Goose’s Death Isn’t Maverick’s Fault, It’s Iceman’s

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