Maverick and Iceman, forever.
Tom Cruise paid tribute to his late Top Gun costar Val Kilmer with an emotional moment of silence at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
At the beginning of his Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning presentation on Thursday, Cruise took a moment to honor Kilmer, who died on Tuesday at 65.
“I’d like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer,” Cruise said. “I really can’t tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human, and how grateful and honored I was when he joined first Top Gun and came back for Top Gun: Maverick. He gave a lot to all of us with his performances.”
Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’. Paramount Pictures
Cruise then asked the audience to take a moment of silence to think about Kilmer’s life and work before ending his tribute with, “Thank you, Val. I wish you well on your next journey.”
Kilmer, the actor best known for playing charismatic rogues and prickly heroes in the Top Gun franchise, The Doors, and Batman Forever, died of pneumonia on Tuesday. He had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and went public with his diagnosis in 2017. His daughter Mercedes Kilmer, who confirmed the news of his death, told The New York Times that he had recovered from that diagnosis.
A devout Christian Scientist, Kilmer considered prayer to be the primary treatment for his condition, though he also underwent chemotherapy and radiation at the urging of his family. The process left him with a tracheostomy tube that made speaking difficult. He shared his health journey in the 2021 documentary Val, with his son, Jack Kilmer, taking on the bulk of the narration in his father’s place.
Tom Cruise at CinemaCon 2025. Ethan Miller/Getty
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Kilmer’s final onscreen appearance was in the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick, sharing a powerful scene opposite Cruise, with whom he costarred in the 1986 original. Kilmer portrayed the villain-turned-hero Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, who ultimately became Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s (Cruise) wingman after the tragic death of his best friend Lt. Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).
“Coming back to work with Tom more than 30 years later, it was like no time had passed at all,” Kilmer told Entertainment Weekly at the time of the movie’s release. “Being next to him instantly makes you better. That said, we blew a lot of takes laughing so much. It was really fun — really special… And when the movie was released this summer, the response was just amazing! I was particularly thrilled and humbled by the audience’s reaction to my scene with Tom.”
— Additional reporting by Lauren Huff
