Top Gun: Maverick's story is well thought-out, with even the callsign of Monica Barbaro's Phoenix being a secret, subtle bit of foreshadowing.
While Top Gun: Maverick’s callsigns are all relevant to their characters, Monica Barbaro’s moniker Phoenix proves just how carefully the sequel foreshadowed its twist. Director Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick pitch was a fully formed take on the sequel that included many of the major set pieces and the backbone of Rooster and Maverick’s conflict. As early as 2013, Kosinski had a clear idea of how he wanted to handle the plot of Top Gun: Maverick and the director (along with Top Gun: Maverick’s screenwriters) planned every detail of the movie to a tee.
This dedication can be seen in the callsigns of Top Gun: Maverick's recruits. Most obviously, Miles Teller’s Rooster is named after his late father, Goose, who was once Maverick’s co-pilot. Meanwhile, Glen Powell’s ruthless Hangman is so named because he is more than willing to leave his colleagues hanging if it will save his skin (which secretly sets up Hangman’s unexpected Top Gun: Maverick redemption). However, the smartest callsign callback is reserved for Monica Barbara’s character Natasha Trace. Her callsign "Phoenix" proves prescient when Trace survives a bird strike during a practice run, ejecting from the ashes of her smoldering plane and surviving to face the movie’s main mission. This makes the callsign more than a cool nickname and actually a clever bit of narrative foreshadowing.
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