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Following Val Kilmer's passing on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, his Top Gun co-star, Tom Cruise, shared a tribute to honor his late friend and fellow actor at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday, April 3, 2025. Before presenting his upcoming movie Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Cruise took the time to honor Kilmer, per People.
"I'd like to take a moment before we get started today to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can't tell you how much I admired his work and him as a human being, how grateful and honored I was that he joined Top Gun and came back for Top Gun: Maverick," he said.
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Val Kilmer passed away due to pneumonia at 65, years after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, per his daughter's statement confirming his death. Meanwhile, Cruise's tribute to his late friend and Top Gun co-star earned praises from fans online, with one netizen on X admiring the actor for how he held it with "grace and heart."
"He'd it down for his friend with grace and heart," an X user commented.
More fans online shared their appreciation for the Mission: Impossible star's tribute to his friend and co-star Val Kilmer, calling what Cruise did a "great gesture" and a "touching tribute."
"Their reunion in Top Gun: Maverick was already so emotional, and now this tribute? Tom Cruise has my respect. RIP Val Kilmer," an X user said.
"That's a great gesture from one legend to another," a user on X commented.
"That's a really touching tribute by Tom Cruise. Val Kilmer had such an amazing career, and 'Top Gun' is definitely one of his iconic films," another X user said.
Other fans also remembered Val Kilmer in the comments, akin to the Jerry Maguire actor, saying how the late Hollywood actor was an "inspiring" persona and that his "impact is forever."
"Yeah Val was an inspiring persona! Cruise paying his respects is awesome," a user on X commented.
"Val Kilmer's impact is forever, Top Gun wouldn't be the same without him," another X user said.
Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer star in the 1986 original Top Gun movie
Tom Cruise starred in the original movie Top Gun, which came out in 1986. He played the character of the fighter pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, and opposite him was Val Kilmer, playing his rival fighter pilot Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. The fictional characters of Maverick and Iceman reunited decades later in the 2022 sequel, Top Gun: Maverick.
The once bitter rivals in the original film returned on screen as two close friends in the sequel, close enough that Cruise's character was asking for Kilmer's character's advice and said, "The only reason I'm here, is you." The Top Gun star also reflected on his reunion with Kilmer in the movie during his visit on Jimmy Kimmel Live in February 2023, saying:
"I just want to say that was pretty emotional... I was crying. I was crying."
Maverick's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, also told People in 2021 how Cruise had been insistent on getting Val Kilmer in the sequel. He said that the actor was "really adamant" that if he was going to make another Top Gun movie, Kilmer "had to be in it."
In his tribute at CinemaCon 2025, Tom Cruise wished Val Kilmer well on his "next journey" before thanking the audience for allowing him to pay tribute to his late friend.
