He was just 24 years old when Top Gun was first released in 1986.

And 36 years later, Tom Cruise didn’t look like he had aged a day as the sequel Top Gun: Maverick prepares for release after years of delays.

The 59-year-old movie star is reprising his role as LT Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell and looked as comfortable as ever as he slipped back into his pilot uniform.

In Top Gun: Maverick, his character is now a flight instructor, training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.

The highly anticipated sequel opens in UK cinemas on May 25 and in US cinemas on May 27.

The original 1986 film was a blockbuster hit that put Tom on the map while he starred alongside co-stars Anthony Edwards, Meg Ryan, Kelly McGillis and Val Kilmer.

The movie became a huge hit, grossing over $356 million, with a budget of only $15 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Top Gun was the highest grossing film of 1986.

Top Gun was Tom’s eighth feature film in his now-hugely successful career.

Since then, the worldwide star and household name has starred in a number of hits including the Mission: Impossible franchise, War Of The Worlds, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire and Days Of Thunder.

The new movie features Miles Teller as Goose’s son ‘Rooster’, who is following Goose’s path under the tutelage of Cruise’s Maverick.

Also in the cast are Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis with Ed Harris.

The sequel is directed by Joseph Kosinski with a screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie.

The sequel was supposed to come out years ago but the original director Tony Scott, who was set to direct the new installment, died by suicide in 2012.

Filming then kicked off on May 31, 2018 in San Diego, California but the release date was pushed back due to the Covid pandemic.

Its initial release date was in July 2019, then it was pushed to summer 2020. Then lockdown necessitated its delay.

As the year 2020 rumbled on even a winter release appeared unfeasible for various reasons including schedule changes for other movies.

Consequently the film was moved to a  July 2021 only to now be shifted again as it was set to clash with the release of other blockbusters.

While the public will have to wait a few more weeks to finally see the film, last month it was reported that Prince William and Kate Middleton got a VIP preview of the new movie.

Tom treated the couple to a private premiere of the hugely anticipated sequel, after learning the Prince, 39, is a huge fan of the original 1986 movie.

The Sun report that Tom organised a screening of Top Gun: Maverick for the couple, alongside some family members and friends at a London cinema, ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.

The select group also included Sophie WesSєx, 57, and Princesses Eugenie, 32, and Beatrice, 33 and a few of the couple’s close friends.

Top Gun: Maverick will be released in UK cinemas on May 25 and in US cinemas on May 27