The start of Super Bowl LIX in the highly anticipated showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles left viewers confused after a ‘weird’ promotion from legendary actor Tom Cruise.

With 75,000 people watching live in the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans – including President Donald Trump and Taylor Swift – and millions of eyes glued to TV sets around the USA and wider world, it fell to Cruise to head up the final promo of the 2025 Super Bowl in which he told the audience about what was at stake.

That was accompanied by, you’ve guessed it, a whole lot of slow-motion montages from years gone by. Because what is sport without slowing things right down when looking back?

“We encounter a mission that doesn’t come along very often,” the Top Gun star said.

“It has all led to this… yet there’s always new heights to be reached.”

A lot of hyperbole and enthusiasm for both NFL teams, basically.

But the clips that focused on 62-year-old Cruise speaking to the camera had a good chunk of viewers wondering about something in particular. And that was Cruise himself.

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“The long winding road here has all led to this.” @TomCruise welcomes us to Super Bowl LIX 💪

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6:42 AM · Feb 10, 2025

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“Tom Cruise looks like Tom Cruise wearing a Tom Cruise skin suit,” one X user wrote in apparent nods to his 1997 classic Face/Off where he starred opposite Nicolas Cage, as well as all the times he wore a face mask in the Mission Impossible universe.

Another said: “Is this an AI Tom Cruise?”

And a third posted: “Why does Tom Cruise’s face look weird, like AI or something.”

A fourth added: “He’s reached the point where he does not look like Tom Cruise anymore.”

Cruise is a household name (Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Others were a bit less cynical about AI and just thought Cruise looked his age. And that, in turn, was making viewers feel old.

“Tom Cruise finally looking old makes me feel old,” one person wrote.

A second said: “Tom Cruise finally aging makes me feel old.”

It’s not the only clip from the start of the 2025 Super Bowl that has gone viral, with fans left in stitches when Jon Hamm introduced the Chiefs to the pitch.

Taking to the mic, he tried to hype up the defending Super Bowl champions who are on the hunt for a historic third title in a row (a so-called ‘three-peat’).

The problem for Hamm was that his voice broke big time during the building of the hype. Not what you want at all.

LADbible approached Tom Cruise’s representatives for comment on the Super Bowl promo.

Most controversial Super Bowl ads

Super Bowl adverts have become almost as anticipated as the game itself, with brands willing to fork out millions to secure a coveted spot during the event. However, over the years, some ads have caused controversy, provoking heated debates and public backlash.

Let’s take a look back at some of the most controversial Super Bowl ads…

Carl’s Jr.: All Natural Burger (2015)

Featuring model Charlotte McKinney walking through a market wearing little clothing and gaining a lot of attention from men, the fast food chain’s ad was criticised for objectifying women.

PETA: Last Longer (2016)

For the 2016 Super Bowl, PETA submitted a racy ad that compared the sexual stamina of a meat-eating couple and a vegan couple. It ultimately didn’t make the cut as it was deemed too explicit for TV.

GoDaddy: Journey Home (2015)

The controversial ad followed a puppy’s journey home after falling off a pick-up truck, only to find that his owners had sold him using a GoDaddy site.

After receiving backlash from animal rights organisations, GoDaddy’s then-CEO Blake Irving announced: “What should have been a fun and funny ad clearly missed the mark and we will not air it.”

84 Lumber: The Journey Begins (2017)

Depicting a Mexican woman and her daughter’s journey to the US, 84 Lumber was accused of supporting illegal immigration.

According to the company, the ad’s first cut, in which the pair were blocked by a ‘wall’, was considered ‘too controversial’ to air by Fox.

Responding to the backlash, 84 Lumber said: “We do not condone illegal immigration. The journey of the mother and daughter symbolises grit, dedication and sacrifice. Characteristics that we look for in our people at 84 Lumber. President Trump has previously said there should be a ‘big beautiful door in the wall so that people can come into this country legally’. We couldn’t agree more.”

It ultimately went with a 90-second clip that showcased key moments of the journey, with instructions to ‘see the conclusion at Journey84.com’.

Groupon: Save the Money – Tibet (2011)

Groupon’s ad received criticism after appearing to make light of Tibet’s political situation.

“The Tibetan people are in trouble,” actor Timothy Hutton said in a voiceover. “Their very culture is in jeopardy.”

Cutting to a shot of Hutton in a restaurant, he added: “But they still whip up an amazing fish curry. And since 200 of us bought on Groupon.com, we’re getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15.”

General Motors: Robot (2007)

The 60-second ad showed an assembly line robot jumping off a bridge after being dismissed by General Motors.

Although it turned out to be a dream, viewers slammed the visual depiction of suicide and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention called it ‘inappropriate’.

Nationwide: Boy (2015)

Nationwide’s tragic ad features a young boy talking about the life experiences he’ll never get to have because he died in an accident.

After being met with outrage from unsuspecting viewers, the company said the message ‘was to start a conversation, not sell insurance’.

“We want to build awareness of an issue that is near and dear to all of us-the safety and well being of our children,” it added.

Groupon: Save the Money – Rainforest (2011)

Part of the same campaign as Groupon’s Tibet ad, the Elizabeth Hurley-fronted advert was accused of trivalising Brazil’s deforestation after seemingly comparing it to a Brazilian bikini wax.

Tom Cruise arrived in style at the Olympics closing ceremony, as he leapt off the roof of the Stade de France onto the field.

The Hollywood star was slated to carry out the daring stunt in the months leading up to the highly anticipated Olympics closing ceremony.

Cruise, 62, slid down a rope from the roof of the Stade de France, landing on the pitch to collect the iconic Olympic flag from the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, and Team USA gymnast Simone Biles.

A pre-filmed movie of the movie star was then played, where he flew over the Atlantic, sky dived out of a plane and raised the iconic flag on the Hollywood sign in California.

Take a look:

In the film following the crazy move, the Mission Impossible star carried it across the Atlantic Ocean, skydiving to the Hollywood sign as an ode to the upcoming 2028 Olympics that will take place in Los Angeles, USA.

That part of the stunt was shot back in March, with people writing the move off as filming for an advert, instead as a piece done for the biggest sporting event in the world.

Cruise has been part of an Olympic ceremony in the past, having carried the torch through LA during a global relay done for the 2004 games in Athens, Greece.

Earlier this week, the Top Gun star said: “It’s awesome.

“Great stories, great athletes.

“It’s incredible what they have to do, the sense of accomplishment.”

The Hollywood star has been ever-present at the Olympics this summer. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The stunt isn’t the first nail-biting attempt of Cruise’s career, as in last year’s Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One, he rode off a cliff on a motorbike before sky-diving and deploying his parachute. And yes, he did this a few times.

In a behind-the-scenes featurette about the film, Cruise admitted: “It’s a very beautiful and delicate sport.

“We’re going to do spirals, and we’re landing at an incredibly high speed, over 80 kilometres an hour.”

The Ethan Hunt actor claimed that he had been training his whole life for it, saying: “It was actually years of training… because I fly jets, I fly helicopters, I fly aeroplanes. I’m a skydiver, I’m a parachuter, race cars, motorcycles,

“[This film] was a culmination of all my skills…. There’s a lot going on there’s a lot happening… [but] the most important part is getting the shot and getting the story across.”

Tom Cruise is no stranger to daring stunts. (Paramount)

The outstanding closing ceremony comes over two weeks after the jaw-dropping events of the soaking-wet opening ceremony that took place along La Seine.

Lady Gaga came out of nowhere to open the ceremony with a rendition of French song ‘Mon Truc En Plumes’, the Minions died, and Olympic nations arrived at the games on boats for the first time ever.

If that wasn’t enough, a shocking ‘blue scrotum’ was unveiled on a silver platter in front of millions in what was described as an ‘acid trip’ opening ceremony, before officials accidentally raised the Olympics flag upside down.

Commentators claimed that the Paris officials had tried to do too much to be different, but we were all left with our jaws on the floor after Celine Dion performed a powerful rendition of ‘L’Hymne à l’amour’, that was sure to shut critics up about a ‘disappointing’ ceremony.

It was the first time the artist had performed since her ‘stiff person syndrome’ diagnosis.

Olympics 2024 highlights – the biggest moments

Anthony Ammirati’s penis costs him his medal

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French athlete Anthony Ammirati failed the 5.70 height pole vault because of his asset. #IKYK #Paris2024    x.com/priznani_gayu/…

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The 21-year-old French pole vaulter attempted to clear the 5.70 metres on 3 August when his knee – along with his private parts – got in the way, shattering his Olympic dreams.

Iconic shooter Yusuf Dikec wins silver medal with ‘no equipment’

Yusuf Dikec became a viral sensation. (Eurosport)

Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec took a laid back approach when he was spotted looking incredibly relaxed with one hand in his pocket and without any shooting gear on.

It all paid off though as he took home the silver along with his partner Sevval Ilayda Tarhan.

Noah Lyles’ 100m victory

He set a personal best (Eurosport)

Setting a new personal best, Lyles came out on top at the finish line by a margin of just 0.005 seconds, with a final time of 9.784.

The final also marked the fastest race of all time, with all eight athletes crossing the finish line in under 10 seconds.

George Mills and Hugo Hay’s 5000m bust up

Chaos erupted when a total of five athletes found themselves face down on the track after an incident left several runners stumbling on top of each other, including Team GB’s George Mills and French runner Hugo Hay.

Mills looked as though he had some harsh words for Hay after the tumble which he admitted he was ‘probably not allowed to say’.

Snoop Dogg in general

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Everyone’s timeline needs a cleanse and it doesn’t get cleansier than Snoop Dogg dancing for a horse at the Olympics:

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Snoop went viral after he rocked up to the dressage team Grand Prix Special fully kitted out in breeches, a dressage tailcoat and hard hat alongside pal Martha Stewart. Iconic.

Ana Carolina Vieira gets sent home for breaking athletes’ village rules with boyfriend

The swimmer was sent home after her actions. (Instagram/_anavieeiraa)

Ana Carolina Vieira was sent home after she and her boyfriend Gabriel Santos – also a swimmer competing in the Olympics – left the village without permission, which is against the Olympic Village rules.

Team GB star becomes first ever Olympian to win medal in both male and female events

Henry Fieldman (bottom left) made history. (henryfieldman/Instagram)

Coxswain Henry Fieldman made history when he won bronze at the women’s crews event off the back of his bronze win in Tokyo on the men’s team.

Fieldman was able to achieve the feat because of a rule change back in 2017 that allows coxes of either gender to steer the eights.

The River Seine drama

Tyler Mislawchuk threw up after his race (BBC)

While Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk vomited after swimming in the river, Belgian triathlete Jolien Vermeylen admitted she ‘felt and saw things that we shouldn’t think about too much’.

It came after health concerns were raised over the pollution levels in the river, with the country splashing out a cool £1.18 billion on cleaning it up in time for the games.

Freddie Crittenden jogs for entire race on purpose

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What was bro doing @ 🇺🇸Freddie Crittenden must be mad at something #GOLD #ParisOlympics2024

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The Team USA star purposely put on a leisurely performance in his first heat of the Men’s 110m hurdles and ended up being the last one to make it across the finish line with a time of 18.27 seconds.

The athlete said it was a calculated move to avoid aggravating a sore muscle in his leg and due to the introduction of repechage rounds, he knew that he’d have another chance at glory.

‘Slow pool’ accusations

The pool at the Paris La Défense Arena is 2.15 metres deep which is short of the minimum of 2.5 metres that World Aquatics recommends for an Olympic competition, prompting backlash from viewers.

As a result of the difference in depth, an issue called ‘slow’ swimming is created where the water is more volatile when dispersed than in a deeper pool.

Imane Khelif’s opponent quits boxing match 46 seconds in

Italy’s Angela Carini has since apologised (Eurosport)

The Algerian boxer faced Italy’s Angela Carini in the round of 16 match on 1 August when Carini – who has since apologised – decided to abandon the match after 46 seconds.

Khelif – who was born and raised a girl – was disqualified from last year’s Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi amid claims from the International Boxing Association that she was not able to meet their unspecified eligibility criteria.

Khelif has since been at the centre of a gender row, and has urged people to ‘refrain from bullying all athletes’ amid abuse online.

In the end, she silenced her critics in the best way possible: with a gold medal in the welterweight division.

Luana Alonso ‘kicked out’ of Olympic Village

Luana Alonso took to social media to break her silence (Instagram/@luanalonsom)

The Paraguayan swimmer was said to have been asked to leave the village amid accusations of creating an ‘inappropriate environment’, according to a statement from her team.

Alonso – who also announced her retirement from the sport – has since denied the claims and urged people to ‘stop spreading false information’.

Gold medal winner Thomas Ceccon spotted sleeping in park amid village complaints

Ceccon having a cheeky snooze. (Instagram)

The athlete, who won gold in the men’s 100m backstroke, was spotted taking a nap outside by Saudi rower Husein Alireza who posted it to his Instagram account, tagging the spot as a location within the official Olympic Village.

Speaking about his accommodation, Ceccon said: “It’s hard to sleep both at night and in the afternoon. Usually, when I’m at home, I always sleep in the afternoon. Here I really struggle between the heat and the noise.”

Steven van de Velde booed while making his Olympic debut

Steven van de Velde is a convicted child rapist (Eurosport)

The convicted child rapist was booed as he competed in the preliminary phase of the beach volleyball men’s tournament at the start of the games last month.

In 2016, Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting three counts of rape against a 12-year-old girl in August 2014, with many furious that he has been allowed to compete in the Olympics.

George Mills squares up to opponent

The men’s 5,000 metres heats erupted into chaos on Wednesday (7 August), with Team GB’s George Mills accusing France’s Hugo Hay of pushing him.

The two athletes even shared a tense exchange at the finish line.

Four runners ended up on the floor in the tumble, with three of them put through to the final.

But Mills ultimately didn’t end up with a medal, finishing 21st in the final with a time of 13:32:32.

Jordan Chiles stripped of medal

Jordan Chiles bronze medal win was shortlived (Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages)

It was a heartbreaking Olympics for Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles.

After she’d walked away with a bronze medal on the women’s floor exercise gymnastics, a court ruled that a Team USA inquiry that secured her podium finish came four seconds too late.

As such, Romania’s Ana Barbosu was reinstated in third, with Chiles potentially having to hand back her medal.

Tom Cruise explained exactly what was running through his mind while he performed his petrifying plane stunt in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Contrary to what you might think, it wasn’t whether or not he might have left the iron on that morning – as he had more pressing matters at hand.

The action star, 62, is renowned for completing his own death-defying stunts in films, including riding a motorbike off a very tall cliff and scaling the Burj Khalifa.

Instead of relying on body doubles or special effects, he prefers a more hands-on approach, hence why he was seen clinging onto the side of an Airbus A400 travelling at speeds of 140mph in 2015.

Cruise put himself in harms way for the sake of the thrilling scene in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation – and if you thought the final cut was great, wait until you see the behind-the-scenes stuff. Take a look at this:

The actor’s iconic character, Ethan Hunt, finds himself stood on the side of the aircraft hanging on for dear life as it takes off during the fifth instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

A featurette about the movie spilled the beans on what went into Cruise’s stomach-churning stunt – which he completed a whopping eight times.

The star explained he had a lot of input into the scene, which was filmed at the UK air base RAF Wittering.

Recalling the moment he gave the green light for the four-engine military transporter to take off, Cruise said: “I give the thumbs up to camera, they’re inside the airplane and I’m telling them, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!’

“He [the pilot] is pushing that throttle forward and we are hammering down that runway. Like holy sh*t, the force of it.

“I was just trying to keep my feet on the ground, as I always had in my mind the image of when the airplane took off, my feet are going to come off.

“And the force of that wind…I’m trying desperately to keep my feet on the floor. That feeling man, it just…the airplane left the ground and I couldn’t hold my feet on the side of that airplane anymore.”

The Jack Reacher star said he then began to feel ‘the force going up in his body’ as he eventually lost his footing and could only grasp onto the plane.

So, we’ve heard what was going on in his body, but what about what was going on in his mind?

Cruise went on to explain he was preoccupied by the ‘timing’ of everything, as he wanted to make sure he got the perfect shot.

Recalling his thoughts, he said: “How high are we above the ground? Now do I say my line? They want the line at a particular time where the lighting is good, where I’m not in shadow.

“So, all of these other things are really occupying my mind. [After] we landed, I was like ‘Good, I’ve got that out of my system’.

“It’s always the first [take]. It’s like alright, everyone feels a little calmer, everything’s fine.”

Visual effects supervisor David Vickery admitted he thought it was a ‘one-take’ kind of situation, but Cruise had other ideas, as he went on to do the plane stunt another seven times.

All of Cruise’s hard work paid off, as they got an incredible shot of his stunt (Paramount Pictures)

“I just said to the camera, ‘Let’s go again, I’m ready’,” the stunt maestro continued. “Every time was like, holy sh*t. I wanted to make sure we had that shot.”

Cruise was kitted out with a full-body harness for the stunt as well as being ‘cabled and wired to the plane through it’s door’, according to the film’s Director of Photography, Robert Elswit.

Elswit told The Hollywood Reporter: “Inside the aircraft was an aluminum truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom.

“He was also wearing special contact lenses to protect his eyes. If anything hit him at those speeds it could be really bad.

“They were very careful about cleaning the runway so there were no rocks. And we took off in certain weather conditions; there were no birds. And he’s sort of protected by the way the air moves over the wing.”

The star’s harness and any other safety gear was later digitally removed from the shot.

The crew had just 48 hours at the air base to pull off the incredible scene – which was more than enough time for Cruise.

Tom Hanks has revealed that a big risk when filming Forrest Gump later made him and director Robert Zemeckis millions.

The 68-year-old starred in the 1994 classic alongside Robin Wright (Jenny) and Gary Sinise (Lieutenant Dan Taylor), earning the Best Actor award at the 67th Oscars in 1995.

Loved by millions around the world, the film is packed with countless classic moments, whether it be ‘life is like a box of chocolates’ or ‘run, Forrest, run’, but Hanks has now spoken about how one of the movie’s most iconic scenes almost didn’t make the cut, forcing them both to make a huge gamble.

Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the Toy Story actor revealed that the film’s production company, Paramount Pictures, weren’t too keen on forking out for Forrest’s monumental run across the USA.

Forrest puts the Hardest Geezer to shame by running non-stop for three years, two months, 14 days and 16 hours, crossing the United States almost five times.

But it was also a serious shift from the Hanks siblings, as Tom and his brother Jim worked 27 days straight visiting spots across the country that can be seen in the iconic sequence.

This included a visit to Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, where one stretch of road is now known as Forrest Gump Curve.

Desperate to make it work, Zemeckis and Hanks dug deep and paid for it themselves, splitting ‘a lot of money’ down the middle – but boy, did it pay off.

Explaining the decision, Hanks said: “We worked out this thing. This is movie economics 101. I said, ‘What do you want to do, Bob?’ He said, ‘I think we should pay for this sequence ourselves. Let’s knock money out of salary and we will pay for it ourselves’.

“It was a lot of money. So we split it right down the middle. We’ll take it out of our salary. And we said, ‘We will make them give it back to us on the back end‘.”

The back end deal grants actors the option to take a smaller amount of money upfront and in exchange secure a percentage of the movie’s total gross. While Hanks remains tight-lipped about the final amount, he flashed a little grin to the camera when revealing this.

In total, Forrest Gump grossed £546.8 million ($678.2 million) worldwide, which translates to around £1.13 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2024. According to Entertainment Weekly, Hanks earned an estimated $60 million (£48m) in total from the movie.

So yeah, I reckon it was just about worth the risk, don’t you?