Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Iceman

Maverick definitely has a lot of "frenemies" in this film, chief among them the aptly named Iceman. He's calm, collected, arrogant, and his name says it all. As Goose says to Maverick during the famous nightclub scene: "That's how he flies, ice cold, no mistakes." Sure, Iceman and Maverick are technically on the same side, but for most of the movie they just don't get along. Iceman flies pretty much by the book, whereas Maverick flies like, well, a maverick: he flies below the hard deck on his first Top Gun exercise, he leaves his wingman, he gives the finger to MiGs, etc.

There are several arguments between Iceman and Maverick, mostly about Maverick's dangerous flying style. At one point, for example, Maverick almost loses it and shouts at Iceman, calling him by his real name to be disrespectful: "What's your problem Kazansky?!" Iceman responds, "You're everyone's problem. That's because every time you go up in the air you're unsafe." While Ice and Maverick never really duke it out, they're always on the verge of duking it out in their quest for the trophy.

Unnamed Communist Country

Just who's flying those MiG-28s? The MiGs that Maverick encounters in the film's first and last battle sequences are not only meant to showcase Maverick's flying, but also to give an idea of just why a place like Top Gun is so necessary.

Even after all their training, going up against a group of MiGs is no walk in the park (Iceman can't get them off his tail, and Hollywood is actually shot down by one). The MiGs in this film, and their oh-so-important red star, is to point out that even during a war like the Cold War, there is always an enemy.

In this case, that enemy is some unnamed communist country, and the pilots at Top Gun train with those enemy fighters in mind. Initially, the writers and producers of Top Gun intended the enemy to be North Korea, but when it became clear that the United States was trying to smooth things over with them, they decided it wouldn't be such a good idea to make NoKo the bad guys.