A lot has changed in the years since Top Gun: Maverick first previewed in 2019—including, some early viewers noticed, the controversial patches sewn onto the jacket of Tom Cruise’s title character.
In the original Top Gun film, which premiered in 1986, Cruise’s navy pilot character, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, wears a bomber jacket that belonged to the fighter’s father. The back of the jacket is emblazoned with patches commemorating tours Maverick’s father served in the U.S. Navy, including one joint operation with Taiwan.
When trailers for Top Gun: Maverick aired in 2019, scenes showing the back of the now iconic jacket revealed the Taiwan flag, and the Japan flag next to it, had been replaced with made-up emblems that matched the color schemes of the originals.
Skydance Media, the film’s producer, has not previously commented on why the emblems were changed. But observers speculate the move was made to appease censors in mainland China, where Beijing does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state.
