Maverick by name, maverick by nature: The trailer for the Top Gun sequel shows Tom Cruise’s boundary-pushing pilot is still on the highway to the danger zone.

But it seems his enemies are less rival forces, more institutions.

Judging by the high-octane trailer, the original 1986 movie’s love of shirtless volleyball, Ray Bans, bomber jackets and motorbikes seems unchanged in Top Gun: Maverick.

There’s even the camaraderie of group singing and beer – and it looks like the point of difference is women pilots. Great balls of fire!

This time around, Cruise’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is fighting the march of time and “dinosaur” threats, delivered in perfectly unhammy hammy style by Ed Harris, that “your kind is heading for extinction.”

Cruise, still a captain after “combat medals, citations, only man to shoot down three enemy planes in 40 years”, just smiles: “Maybe so, sir. But not today.”

The theatrics surrounding Top Gun’s return weren’t limited to the screen.

Cruise, 57, surprised fans at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday (US time) by stopping by to debut the first trailer.

“I’m feeling that loving feeling, I’m definitely feeling that loving feeling from you all,” he told the crowd, adding Top Gun was shot 34 years ago in San Diego.

“I have a little piece here if you want to see it. This is our very first trailer. You are the first people in the world to see it,” he said.

“For me, Top Gun is about competition, it is about family, sacrifice, heroism, aviation. It’s a love letter to aviation.”

Thank you to all the fans who came out to Hall H today. It was great to share our first trailer for Top Gun: Maverick with you all. pic.twitter.com/akzi4AeC9Z

— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) July 18, 2019

The sequel takes place decades after the original and sees Miles Teller as Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Anthony Edwards’s doomed pilot Goose.

Also on board: Val Kilmer – reprising his Iceman role – Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell and Jon Hamm.

“They’re using some technology on this that is never before seen,” Hamm recently told Collider.

“We’re shooting the movie in, I think, 6K. So it’s incredibly hi-def. The aerial footage is mind-blowing. There’s not a lot of CG. Those guys are really up in planes and getting thrown around in multiple Gs.”

Multiple Gs is everything, judging by the response to the Top Gun: Maverick trailer.

After it was posted on Twitter by the US Naval Institute, the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam replied: “This is excellent Thursday news.”

Posted one user, “Alexa, play Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins.”

Dedicated to his fitness regimen, Cruise is famous for doing his own stunts and Teller struggled to keep up with him on set, he told The Wrap last month.

“I’m certainly trying, but it is difficult,” the 32-year-old said. “Just the volume of it. I’m sure a lot of people can do it for a couple of days or a week, but can you do it month after month after month?”

Those spooky anti-ageing powers were noted after the trailer dropped:

But not everyone was totally convinced the plot snippets are plausible:

Top Gun: Maverick is slated to premiere on June 26, 2020.