The Big Picture

Danny Ramirez is experiencing career success, with recent film premieres, an upcoming MCU role, and a Doritos Super Bowl commercial.
Ramirez learned valuable lessons about commitment and authenticity from his role in T
op Gun: Maverick,
which he applies to his acting career.
Ramirez is open to the possibility of a
Top Gun
reunion and is currently working on a podcast project with his co-stars from the film.

It seems like Danny Ramirez is on top of the world. He only just returned from Sundance Film Festival where he premiered the biopic Winner, the second of two films about NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, and is set to take the reins as the MCU’s new Falcon in Captain America: Brave New World, which hits theaters next year. And, of course, practically every moviegoer in America recognizes him as Fanboy, the intrepid backseater from 2022’s blockbuster smash Top Gun: Maverick—a role that taught him more than one would expect about starring in a big-budget production, when he spent most of the film sitting behind co-star Jay Ellis.

“There’s so much that Top Gun taught me,” he says, “In regards to…obviously stunts, and the story and the blood, sweat, and tears that you leave on set and what you see in the frame. So many of those moments, in order to play, you’ve realized like, “ok, for this really intense moment to play, this energy has to be expelled no matter what.” You can’t fake that. You can’t, like, pretend you’re like, sweating and like, huffing and puffing. Like there comes a time that, like, you actually have to do it.”

That’s obviously key for something like Brave New World, where he’ll be taking up the mantle previously held by Anthony Mackie, who stepped into the role of Captain America at the end of the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He’s excited about the film, which is heading into reshoots later this year, and while he can’t say anything about the plot, working with director Justin Onah and co-stars like Mackie is a thrill for him. “Any time that you spend with great creatives,” he says, “It’s like, what gets better than that?”

Ramirez Takes on the Super Bowl

Before then, though, he’s taking a different turn: starring in Doritos’ newest Super Bowl commercial, alongside Wednesday star Jenna Ortega. The avid football fan—who can often be seen cheering on the Miami Hurricanes on his Instagram—says he “lived his dream” getting to be in the commercial, which features him nicking a bag of Dinamita Doritos, only to be chased down by a couple of incredibly athletic old women. “I’m basically a pro athlete,” he jokes, though the stunts he performs are just as intense as anything he did in an F-18 or with mechanical wings strapped to his back.

“It felt like, honestly, being on the set of one of these big movies,” he says. “It was six days of people that were the absolute best at their departments—so obviously working with Rodrigo Prieto, Jenna Ortega, Alaska, Dinamita. Across the board, it was just like we were shooting a film…we had amazing stunt drivers that were some of the best in the whole game. Across the board, honestly, every department was top-notch.”

Of course, this isn’t his first rodeo when it comes to commercials. Every up-and-coming actor does one to pay the bills, “I think everyone has their fast food story with one, like a chain,” he muses—but this is a different beast altogether. It’s the “Super Bowl of commercials,” as he says, quite literally, and he admits that he “tried to bring [his] A-game” to fit in with the rest of the spots that will air during Sunday night’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. (He’s rooting for the Chiefs, because “Patrick Mahomesis probably gonna go down as one of the best to ever do it.”)

A Possible ‘Top Gun’ Class Reunion Is on the Cards

He’s not entirely leaving his Top Gun roots behind though. With rumors of a third film in the works, he says returning for another round “would be amazing,” an unsurprising response given the success of the first film, which he says made him some of his best friends. But while nothing is set in stone about Ramirez being called back to Top Gun, he is planning on another venture with his co-stars Lewis Pullman and Greg Tarzan Davis, which they’ve been teasing since the film hit theaters in 2022.

“I guess Lewis has already kind of spilled the beans in a different interview about this. During Sundance, we were doing press for this movie, Winner, that I was part of—check it out whenever you can—but in the middle of one, someone was like, “Oh, I saw this podcast was just confirmed by…” And I was like, “What?” So, yeah, we’re working on a podcast, and it comes out hopefully very soon. We’re working with some people that, again, are at the top of the game on their end. I’ve been incredibly lucky to work with the best of the best.”

It’ll be a while before we get to witness Ramirez on screen as Joaquin Torres in Brave New World, which hits theaters on Valentine’s Day 2025, but as always, Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream on Paramount+, and fans can check out his turn as a commercial star in Doritos’ Super Bowl spot down below: