Paramount Sued Over ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Use of ‘Wolfman’ Image

A “Top Gun” star alleged Paramount Pictures Corp. used his image without permission or compensation during a “key turning point” in the film’s 2022 hit sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.”

The use of the likeness of Barry Tubb (“Wolfman”) is “essential” to the scene where two of the main characters see an old photograph and discover that the character Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw is the son of Nicholas “Goose” Bradshaw, Tubb wrote in a suit filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

Tubb couldn’t have anticipated the use when signing his contract before the first movie was made because at that time, “movie sequels were virtually non-existent,” the suit said. The suit calls Paramount an “unapologetic, chronic, and habitual infringer” and says the production company should have known it did not have rights to his image. “Top Gun: Maverick” has grossed more than $1.4 billion to date, according to the suit.

Paramount did not immediately respond to a Wednesday request for comment.

The scene in question features close-up shots of the Top Gun Class of 1986, featuring Wolfman equally alongside the characters Maverick (Tom Cruise), Goose (Anthony Edwards), and Iceman (Val Kilmer). The photo was an altered version of a behind-the-scenes photograph of the original actors, according to the complaint. The changes to the image “destroyed” any claimed copyright, the complaint said.

The use of Tubb’s image misleads viewers by falsely representing that he is affiliated with “Top Gun: Maverick,” the complaint said. Tubb was not contacted to work on the sequel, nor did he ask, the complaint said.

It’s “not normal” for an actor’s waiver of publicity rights in one film to be transferred to “another completely different film made and released four decades after the original,” the suit said.

The Casas Law Firm PC represents Tubb.

The case is Tubb v. Paramount Pictures Corp., C.D. Cal., No. 2:24-cv-01417, 2/21/24.