Barry Tubb Sues Paramount Over Use of His Likeness in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’

Barry Tubb, who played Leonard Wolfe in Top Gun, is reportedly suing Paramount for using his clone in the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick. 

Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel to the 1986 action flick Top Gun. The sequel sees Tom Cruise reprising his role as Captain Pete Mitchell from the original. It also includes a younger crew, such as Nick Bradshaw’s son. 

The film is set several years after the events of Top Gun and marks the return of Val Kilmer as Tom Kazansky, Maverick’s old rival. 

As per Entertainment Weekly, Barry Tubb has taken legal action against Paramount for using his likeness in a scene from Top Gun: Maverick.

The scene features a photograph of Maverick, Iceman, and Goose. As per Tubb, Paramount did not take his permission to use his photo in the sequel. He claims the image was an altered copy of a behind-the-scenes image that “destroyed any purported copyright.” 

Paramount is yet to comment on the matter. Barry Tubb has claimed compensation and a trial in court. It is not the first time Top Gun: Maverick has faced legal trouble. 

Weeks after the film’s release, the makers faced a copyright infringement charge from the family members of Ehud Yonay. The author wrote a 1983 article in California Magazine that inspired the first film. His family also demanded the sequel’s distribution be stopped. 

The lawsuit claimed that the Top Gun sequel allegedly copied key portions from Ehud Yonay’s article, Top Guns. Yonay’s family specifically referred to a scene where Maverick is forced to buy everyone in the Navy base bar some drinks for putting his cell phone on the counter. 

However, director Joseph Kosinski countered such claims, explaining that he wrote the scene from his personal experience of visiting a bar on base. It remains to be seen if these new legal charges by Tubb will impact the maker’s decision to move forward with Top Gun 3. 

Top Gun: Maverick collected a whopping $1.46 billion at the box office, so it will take a lot to discourage them from going forward. However, the team will be more careful before including any footage without prior permission from the concerned parties. 

About Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick is a Paramount film (and sequel) starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from the 1986 Top Gun. It is directed by Joseph Kosinski, with a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie and a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks.

Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer are part of the cast.

The film sees Maverick’s return to the US Navy pilots as he trains a new squad of aviators, preparing them for a dangerous mission. Upon release, the movie was a massive success and became the highest grossing film of Tom Cruise so far.