Tom Cruise delights fans with first look at 'Top Gun: Maverick'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Top Gun” roared back on Thursday when Tom Cruise made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con to show the first trailer for the long-awaited sequel to his military action movie.

“Top Gun: Maverick,” due for release in June 2020, sees the return of Cruise’s fighter pilot more than 30 years after the original movie launched his career as a global action star.

“I was always asked ‘When are you going to do another one?’ Well, you’ve been very patient with me. I felt like it was my responsibility to really deliver for you,” Cruise told fans gathered for the annual Comic-Con movie, television and comic book event in San Diego, according to entertainment website Deadline.

The trailer shows Cruise wearing Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s famous leather jacket, racing on a motorcycle and flying a fighter jet through a narrow snow-filled canyon.

The sequel picks up decades after the 1986 box-office hit and features actor Miles Teller as the son of Anthony Edwards’ pilot Goose, who is killed during a training exercise in the first movie.

“Top Gun: Maverick” also stars Jon Hamm, Ed Harris and Val Kilmer, who reprises his rule as Maverick’s rival Iceman.