Why Coyote and not Wolf? There's actually a good reason for that. And what's the deal with Bob?? There's more to the call signs in "Top Gun: Maverick" than you think.
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00:00Why coyote and not wolf? There's actually a good reason for that. And what's the deal
00:05with Bob? There's more to the call signs in Top Gun Maverick than you think.
00:10While Ed Harris' Admiral Kane is only briefly on screen, he makes his presence felt. Initially
00:16entering Captain Pete Maverick Mitchell's life as the man trying to shut down the test
00:20pilot's project to perfect a jet capable of flying Mach 10, he seemingly gets outplayed.
00:26Maverick gets off the ground before Kane's arrival and hits Mach 10 successfully, while
00:31Kane can do nothing more but observe from the command center. Unfortunately, Maverick's
00:35success is short-lived as he loses control of the aircraft and crashes rather spectacularly.
00:40Still, Mitchell's guardian angel, former rival-turned-friend Admiral Tom Iceman Kazansky, intercedes on
00:47Maverick's behalf. Iceman gets his friend Gig training young pilots for a dangerous
00:51mission at Top Gun Academy, delaying Maverick's honorable discharge once again.
00:56You get yourself in trouble, Iceman makes a call, and you're back in the air."
01:01Despite his foiled plans, it's still easy to see how Kane earned his call sign, Hammer.
01:06He's a man who strikes fast and efficiently. His presence makes an immediate impact that
01:12is impossible to miss or ignore. So while Maverick may have gotten lucky this time,
01:17it's clear Kane is a man who usually hits his target and eliminates them in one clean
01:22stroke.
01:23Pilot John Hamm's Admiral Simpson seems a strange figure to wear the call sign Cyclone.
01:29Immediately skeptical of Maverick, Cyclone presents as a serious man who makes tough
01:33decisions but has no use for risks or flaunting the rules.
01:38Everything about their interactions makes it clear that Cyclone is waiting for Maverick
01:42to fail from the moment the captain pulls up at Top Gun on his motorcycle. However,
01:46as the film progresses, there are hints of how Cyclone earned his call sign. For one,
01:51the audience learns that he was number one in his Top Gun class. In addition, the film's
01:55emphasis on instinct and doing the right thing over the prescribed method suggests that Cyclone
02:01didn't always grip the rulebook quite so hard.
02:04Second, Cyclone eventually relents. Despite the idea that including Maverick in the mission
02:09seems like a significant risk, he makes the call to let Captain Mitchell lead it. Additionally,
02:14he chooses Maverick's strategy for the mission over his own.
02:18Cyclone may be a stickler these days, but there are obviously still some wild winds
02:23in his heart.
02:24As the other admiral overseeing command of the film's training and mission, viewers never
02:29get to see Bates in the cockpit of a fighter jet. However, given his leadership style,
02:34there's plenty of evidence as to what earned him the call sign Warlock. For one, Warlock
02:38implies a certain wisdom or access to information and abilities that not just everyone has.
02:44Given his ascension in the ranks of the Navy, it seems clear that Admiral Bates must have
02:48been a skilled and intelligent pilot during his time at the stick of a fighter jet. He
02:52also magically manages to navigate the complex and none-too-small egos of Cyclone and Maverick,
02:58getting them to work together no matter how strenuously they object to doing so. That
03:02kind of interpersonal spellcasting earns you the call sign Warlock.
03:07Chief Warrant Officer Coleman comes over from the scramjet program with Maverick to aid
03:11in the film's mission. Having worked with Maverick for some time, Coleman is the captain's
03:15biggest booster from the start, the one person besides Iceman who seems to believe that Mitchell
03:20is the right man for the job. While no specific reason for the warrant officer's call sign
03:25of Hondo ever comes up in the movie, a look at the word's meaning in other languages offers
03:29significant insights into why he wears it and wears it well.
03:33Honshu, the largest island in Japan, has historically been known as Hondo, according to Britannica,
03:38lending the name a sense of stability and significance. In Spanish, meanwhile, Hondo
03:43means deep or profound, according to Collins Dictionary. Bashir Salhoudian's performance
03:48gives Coleman those qualities whenever he's on screen. Even goofing it up during the beach
03:53football game, the sincerity of his actions is apparent. His depth of character and thoroughness
03:58are evident throughout the film, too.
04:01Miles Teller's Lieutenant Bradley Rooster Bradshaw begins training as the only young
04:06pilot who knows Maverick. In fact, the two used to be quite close. Bradshaw is the son
04:11of Maverick's deceased wingman, Nick Goose Bradshaw. He's also Maverick's godson. However,
04:16after Maverick decided Rooster wasn't ready and set the lieutenant's progress back years,
04:21the two had a falling out and haven't spoken in quite some time.
04:24"...it's no time to be thinking about the past."
04:27Obviously, the lieutenant's call sign is a tribute to his dad, maintaining the Bradshaw
04:32family's bird motif. The most common image of the rooster is that of the bird whose cry
04:37announces morning and signals to a farm that it's time to get to work. Additionally, roosters
04:41walk with a strut that often has a certain air of arrogance to it. Being out in front
04:46of the action and doing so with great confidence are certainly Maverick-esque qualities.
04:52So subconsciously or not, Bradshaw's call sign reveals he is both his father's son and
04:57his godfather's godson. He's a pilot who has the capacity for both of their best qualities,
05:04even if he's still struggling to find the right balance between them.
05:08While decidedly not the same as Maverick was during his Top Gun days, Lieutenant Saracen
05:12does, in some ways, recreate with Rooster the Maverick-Iceman dynamic. Saracen is the
05:18flashier, more confident pilot, seemingly more interested in individual glory. Rooster,
05:23on the other hand, shows more caution — perhaps too much — and is a far better team player.
05:29As Glenn Powell, the actor who plays Lieutenant Saracen, revealed to CinemaBlend, the script
05:33featured an even more aggressive call sign for the lieutenant to match his antagonistic
05:38demeanor. However, when on-set military consultants suggested that Slayer more closely resembled
05:43the Air Force's approach to call signs than the Navy's, Powell rejected it and began to
05:48develop his own.
05:49Working together with director Joseph Kuczynski and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, the
05:53trio hit on Hangman. Powell told Jimmy Kimmel that a specific pilot with the call sign Noose
05:58was evidently a significant inspiration.
06:01"...and Noose became Hangman."
06:03The nickname also reflects Saracen's reputation for being only out for himself. If one is
06:08out flying with the arrogant pilot, they should be fully ready for him to leave them hanging
06:13the moment he has a chance to achieve individual glory.
06:17Monica Barbaro has made comments suggesting that the call sign Phoenix doesn't refer to
06:21the Arizona city, but actually the mythical bird. She may have even earned the name off-camera,
06:26bonding with her co-stars during nights out. She told The Hollywood Reporter,
06:30"...I had a pretty intense night of frivolity, we'll say, and I rose from the ashes the next
06:35day."
06:36Of course, the character of Trace has likely risen from much more serious ashes than a
06:41night out with colleagues, to soar once again, and likely did so on multiple occasions. Given
06:46that the Navy only began allowing women entry into the Top Gun Academy in the 90s, via The
06:50Washington Post, it seems likely that Trace encountered all types of barriers on her way
06:54to earning her wings. In that light, what better call sign could she have chosen?
06:59As the owner of the least badass call sign of them all, Lieutenant Robert Floyd, aka
07:05Bob, understandably comes in for some ribbing by his fellow pilots.
07:09"...I got it. Baby on board."
07:12But no matter how his fellow pilots hassle him, Floyd seems unshakable, a fine quality
07:18to have in a fighter pilot. He chose Bob because that's who he is. In talking to The New York
07:23Times, Lewis Pullman, who plays Bob, also points out how the call sign acts as a litmus
07:28test for those around him. Given how others react to Bob, Floyd can gauge what kind of
07:32person and teammate they are. While they're attempting to read him, they end up telling
07:37him everything he needs to know about them.
07:40Reuben Fitch's call sign is as close to a platonic ideal of a nickname that someone
07:45in the armed forces could ask for. But payback isn't just about taking revenge. Fitch doesn't
07:50want to feel like he owes anyone a favor for them helping him out. In other words, he always
07:55pays them back as quickly as possible.
07:58Jay Ellis joked with Insider that he put the name into practice after playing a prank on
08:02co-star Lewis Pullman. As in the film, the watering hole the cast frequented had a rule
08:07that if your cell phone was lying on the bar, you had to buy everyone a drink. So one night,
08:11Ellis got a hold of Pullman's phone and put it on the bar, getting the actor on the hook
08:15for a round of drinks for everyone in the establishment — about a hundred at the time.
08:22However, like his character's call sign, Ellis made sure to pay Pullman back the money he
08:29spent.
08:30A hint to the reasoning behind Lieutenant Mickey Garcia's call sign can be seen every
08:34time Garcia climbs into a cockpit. Like the rest of his fellow pilots, his call sign,
08:39Fanboy, runs across the top of the helmet, just above the visor. However, if one takes
08:44a closer look, they'll likely identify something that sets his helmet apart — the font.
08:49Real-life fanboys and sci-fi enthusiasts will likely recognize it right away. While other
08:55pilots have their names written in a variety of scripts, Garcia's is very specifically
09:00the same font used for the titles on the classic episodes of Star Trek. Of course,
09:04not all fanboys are specifically interested in science fiction or fantasy. Anyone enthusiastic
09:10about any elements of pop culture can lay claim to the title.
09:14Lieutenant Machado's call sign of choice seems like a fantastic name regardless of backstory.
09:20Much like college mascots, choosing a cool, natural predator for a call sign is an easy
09:24move. But there's actually more to it than that. As Greg Davis revealed to ComicBook.com,
09:30he immediately noticed that Machado chose a coyote as opposed to the bigger canine predator,
09:35the wolf. This put the actor in the mindset that Machado saw himself as an underdog. Therefore,
09:39the pilot likely acted accordingly, working longer and harder than many of his peers.
09:44The events of Top Gun Mavericks seem to bear out this interpretation as well. During a
09:48critical scene, the lieutenant loses consciousness due to G-force pressure, his jet cresting
09:53and then beginning a dead drop towards the ground below. The pilot regains consciousness
09:58far closer to crashing into the ground than anyone could be comfortable with, and pulls
10:02up just in time. It's the kind of thing that would shake just about anyone, including fighter
10:08pilots. Nonetheless, Machado recovers and is back at it the next time the team goes
10:11into the air to practice for the mission. Like his namesake, he's a scrapper who refuses
10:16to go out easily.
10:18To understand Admiral Tom Kazansky's call sign, viewers need to look back to Val Kilmer's
10:23performance in the original Top Gun from 1986. In that film, Kazansky was always a
10:28man of control. He largely maintained his emotions and composure regardless of the training
10:34mission or interactions with others. As a result, he was cool under pressure. For keeping
10:40it under control in and out of the cockpit, the pilot more than earned the call sign Iceman.
10:46That composed attitude seems to have continued after graduating from Top Gun. As a man who
10:50projects cool confidence, his demeanor clearly made others see him as a natural and reliable
10:56leader. As a result, he ascended to the rank of Vice Admiral and served time on the Joint
11:01Chiefs of Staff. People like a man who stays calm under pressure to be in charge, and Iceman
11:06has always been that.
11:09Viewers also see it in how he treats Mitchell now. Kind, thoughtful, and still, he helps
11:13shepherd his more emotional friend to the hard but inevitable decision Maverick must
11:18reach.
11:19While Tom Cruise's Captain Pete Mitchell certainly earned his nickname back in Top
11:24Gun, the intervening years certainly don't seem to have changed him much. He's less prone
11:29to bursts of temper than he was back when viewers first met him, but he remains as stubborn
11:34and independent-minded as ever.
11:36For those unfamiliar with the military, to have served as long as Mitchell has, still
11:47be active, and only achieved the rank of captain is highly unusual. It speaks to him
11:53having been passed over several times for promotion. Other characters' discussions
11:57of him confirm this is very much the case. His resistance to rules, to accepting things
12:02as they are instead of as they could be, ensures he's the best man for the film's near-impossible
12:08mission. His refusal to accept conventional wisdom and acceptable losses leads to him
12:14crafting a plan that wins the day and gets everyone home alive.