In 2022, the film Top Gun: Maverick was released as a sequel to Top Gun, the 1986 hit, where the F-14 was the star, while the F-18 appeared on the horizon, eventually becoming its replacement. The film's defining line was "It's not the plane, it's the pilot," as a troubled Tom Cruise—"Maverick"—faces off against a powerful enemy fighter in his outdated aircraft.