“If Tom Cruise Sees This, I’m Toast!” – Marvel Star Danny Ramirez Fears Maverick’s Judgment in Falcon Flight Scenes

Danny Ramirez is soaring to new heights in Hollywood. After making waves as “Fanboy” in Top Gun: Maverick, Ramirez now dons the wings of Joaquin Torres—aka the new Falcon—in Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World. But as he took flight in his first major Marvel film, the ghost of his Maverick mentor, Tom Cruise, lingered in the back of his mind.

In a candid conversation with fellow Top Gun alum and Marvel newcomer Lewis Pullman for Interview Magazine, Ramirez admitted he was haunted by one burning question: Would Cruise approve of his aerial form? “I felt like if Tom [Cruise] saw my body positioning, he’d be judging the aerodynamics,” Ramirez confessed, a line that quickly ricocheted across entertainment news outlets.

Ramirez’s anxiety was more than just nerves—it was born from firsthand experience. Tom Cruise, renowned for his obsessive pursuit of realism and his hands-on approach to stunts, had set an intimidatingly high bar on the set of Top Gun: Maverick. “You’ll see in the BTS, I’m holding proper form, so whether or not body parts were replaced, that’s not on me. I was aerodynamic, and banking when I had to bank, and trying to make sure that my head was in the right position because wind will then affect lift, and all these things,” Ramirez explained, referencing the rigor instilled by Cruise’s flight training regime.

Ramirez’s respect for Cruise’s standards even shaped how he approached his superhero flight sequences. While the MCU’s Falcon flight suit—especially compared to Sam Wilson’s high-tech version—might be more “analog,” Ramirez insisted on proper piloting form. “Tom’s maybe going to watch this and if he does, I better come correct,” he joked, half in awe and half in fear of Cruise’s silent critique.

His dedication traces back to the grueling days of Top Gun: Maverick training, where the cast endured relentless high-G jet flights—often resulting in motion sickness. “I think most of us could say that we were barfing quite a bit,” Ramirez previously told Entertainment Weekly. But that training left its mark: a real appreciation for the physical realities of flight, even in the heightened world of Marvel.

Ramirez’s professional anxiety is part admiration, part pressure. Cruise, after all, was once considered for the role of Tony Stark before Robert Downey Jr. made it his own. The possibility of Cruise joining the MCU looms large—a thought that only raises the stakes for those already under his long shadow.

In Captain America: Brave New World, now in theaters, Ramirez’s Falcon is already earning praise for his aerial prowess. Whether or not Cruise tunes in, one thing is clear: Danny Ramirez is determined to fly right—no matter who’s watching.