May i ask about the hierarchy of fighter planes, as interpreted by top gun maverick?

1) This is a movie so things are done for dramatic effects. But 5th gen fighters generally have performance advantages over 4th gen fighter. So if you are in a disadvantaged position in a less capable fighter then the pilot should disengage and get out. A 4th Gen fighter like F-18 is capable of being in an advantage position against a 5th Gen fighter but that depends on the details of the engagement like pilot’s situational awareness and skill. 2) missiles have what we call no-escape ranges where the kinetic energy in the missile is sufficient to catchup to a fighter no matter what a fighter does. The range is dependent on the size and design of the missile. If the fighter is within no-escape range then there is nothing the fighter can possibly do to escape and out run the missile. In such a scenario the pilot must then rely on things like chaff, flares and jammers in addition to maneuvering to hopefully break the lock on the targeted fighter. 3) F-14 is indeed have faster top speed than some 5th gen fighters like F-35. Some engineering compromise must be made to enable an aircraft to go from low supersonic speeds (~1.5 M) to high supersonic speeds. (~2.5+M); things like variable geometry engine inlets. Aircraft design is a compromise and the requirements for some newer 5th gen fighter does not include a 2.5+M capability so they were not designed with such a capability. But 5th gen fighters have other advantages that makes up for lower top end speed like stealth and sensor fusion that makes the trade worthwhile. 4) F-14s and F-18s were designed to different design requirements. F-14 was meant to be an interceptor that has high top speed to dash out and intercept bombers before they can launch anti-ship missiles at carriers. It had swing wings to reconcile the conflicting requirements of high top end speed and long loitering time. It also legit had shitty engines when it first came out and didn’t get fixed until A+ and D models. The F-18 was designed as a multi-role fighter that is capable enough to replace multiple single role aircraft, your classic jack of all trade but ace of none type of fighter. F-18 have sufficient performance to come out of an engagement on top if given support like more fighters, 3rd party sensor like AWACs for situational awareness, better pilot training. In short an F-14 is a better fighter in a most A-A scenario and can’t do strike roles until late into its career, the F-18 does a good enough job at at many many more scenarios.