Getty Image/Paramount Pictures
Never one to simply let people enjoy things, Neil DeGrasse Tyson — the defacto king of the nerds who will always bounce on an opportunity to scientifically rain on someone’s parade — hopped on Twitter to share his thoughts about how unrealistic Top Gun: Maverick is, stating that Tom Cruise’s Maverick would’ve died in the first act.
“Late to the party here, but in this year’s ‘Top Gun,’ Tom Cruise’s character Maverick ejects from a hypersonic plane at Mach 10.5, before it crashed. He survived with no injuries. At that air speed, his body would splatter like a chainmail glove swatting a worm,” Tyson tweeted.
Naturally, given that Top Gun: Maverick is literally one of the most successful movies of the last 20 years, movie fans absolutely roasted Tyson for having such a lame point-of-view about the clearly fictional movie.
Movie fans make fun of Neil DeGrasse Tyson for being way too serious about the physics in Top Gun: Maverick
science doesn’t apply to Tom Cruise, you absolute nerd. https://t.co/9o57MCB3gG
— Cade Onder (@Cade_Onder) October 9, 2022
Which explains why Maverick is the GOAT pilot you nerd! https://t.co/ImWCQMK3ot
— Rod (@rodimusprime) October 10, 2022
This dude lives to be insufferable https://t.co/MTGb5N0khj
— Yougurt (@NeedYogurt) October 10, 2022
Can’t wait till he discovers battlefield 3 jet players https://t.co/rmEiGnquUM
— Mutahar (@OrdinaryGamers) October 11, 2022
https://twitter.com/BigiquaGaming/status/1579634475956568066
https://twitter.com/_ElScorcho_/status/1579657366597160961
Watching Pacific Rim with this guy and every ten seconds he just shakes his head and furiously scribbles down notes until he's in tears by the end of the second act https://t.co/4nNmXTIeGW
— Zingus (@Zingus5) October 11, 2022
Okay I hear ya, counterpoint: he’s Tom Cruise https://t.co/aJnoMae1NN
— Gordon🇵🇸 | No.1 Chief Misty Luggins simp (@Fanman4646) October 11, 2022
You are not late, no one invited you https://t.co/pDp8vqc73w
— Andrew Donaldson (@four4thefire) October 10, 2022
The tweet even came to the attention of American astronaut Scott Kelly, who disputed Tyson’s analysis and argued that it would depend on Maverick’s altitude at the time of the Mach 10 flight.
Depends on his altitude. I was going Mach 25 when I left the ISS on a spacewalk and that was just fine. https://t.co/w2LP91SX06
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) October 10, 2022
Despite the fact that Top Gun: Maverick — which was delayed for a handful of years due to various circumstances — was released back in late May, the film can still be found playing in thousands of theaters across the country, which is truly extraordinary considering we’re now in the middle of October.
As things currently stand, Top Gun: Maverick — which some people believe will be a contender at next year’s Academy Awards, including in the Best Picture category — is the 11th highest-grossing film of all time, sitting just a few million dollars behind the likes of Furious 7 and The Avengers.
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