Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell h as never been afraid of a dogfight, and, now, it looks like he's taking on communist China.

Eagle-eyed fans of the Tom Cruise character have noticed the hotshot Navy pilot sporting a bomber jacket with the Taiwanese flag in Top Gun: Maverick.

The flag is largely considered to be an independence symbol in the region, and communist officials in Beijing have no love for it, as they insist the island of Taiwan is under their control.

I just learned that the people behind Top Gun: Maverick put the Taiwan flag back on Tom Cruise’s jacket after heavy criticism Top Gun is owned by Paramount, the same company that made the Sonic movie Maybe Paramount is a rare instance of a big company listening to its customers pic.twitter.com/hjHv2e0KpW

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The patch was not visible when the first trailer for the movie dropped in 2019, and some have speculated that might have been the result of Chinese censors, according to a report.

However, when the sequel to the 1986 classic hit theaters, the flag was featured on the back of Mitchell's jacket next to a previously hidden Japanese flag.

Audiences in Taiwan cheered when they saw their flag appear and applauded multiple times throughout the movie, a local report noted.

Top Gun: Maverick is not expected to be released in China, per the report, but it brought in roughly $156 million in domestic sales during its four-day opening weekend, according to Paramount.

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The display of the Taiwanese flag might signal a change regarding fears of Chinese censorship, Chris Fenton, a former movie executive, told Bloomberg.

"Hollywood is now pushing back," Fenton said. "The market is simply not worth the aggravation anymore in attempting to please Chinese censors."