ACTOR JOSH BROLIN is among those paying tribute to Hollywood legend Val Kilmer following his passing yesterday aged 65, labelling him an “uber-creative firecracker”.

Deadpool and Avengers actor Brolin is one of a host of former co-stars flooding social media with tributes to the late actor best known for his roles in Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone and Batman Forever who died of pneumonia in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes Kilmer confirmed this morning.

He wrote on his Instagram account:  “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those. I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”

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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995′s Heat, praised Kilmer’s illustrious Hollywood career, commending his tenacity during his decade-long fight with throat cancer.

“While working with Val on ’Heat’ I always marveled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character,” Mann said. “After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”

Josh Gad, voice of Olaf in animated hit Frozen, added his voice to the swelling tributes. “RIP Val Kilmer. Thank you for defining so many of the movies of my childhood. You truly were an icon,” he wrote.

Paramount Home Entertainment, the company behind Top Gun, paid tribute to the “indelible cinematic mark” he made on the film industry which it says “spanned genres and generations”.

Originally a stage actor, Kilmer got his start on the big screen with Cold War spoof Top Secret! in 1984.

The star came to fame for playing the competitive naval aviator Tom “Iceman” Kazansky alongside Tom Cruise in Tony Scott’s 1986 mega box-office hit Top Gun.

A versatile actor whose career spanned decades, Kilmer got a shot at leading man roles in Oliver Stone’s The Doors and took a turn as the masked Gotham vigilante in Batman Forever, playing Bruce Wayne after Michael Keaton and before George Clooney.

Kilmer also starred as the gunslinger Doc Holliday in Tombstone and master thief Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 thriller Heat.​

“He works harder than most actors to make it look believable,” Tombstone director George Cosmatos told the Los Angeles Times in 1993, speaking on Kilmer.

“He’s in the ranks of the great actors in America like [Al] Pacino or De Niro.”

Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, and Val, a stirring Amazon Prime documentary about his life that premiered at Cannes in July 2021, showed him needing a breathing tube.

In the documentary, entitled Val, Kilmer detailed life with throat cancer, describing the difficulty of having to use an electronic voice box on an artificial hole inserted in his throat which permitted him to talk.

He said: “I obviously am sounding much worse than I feel. I can’t speak without plugging this hole (in his throat). You have to make the choice to breathe or to eat.”

He recently returned to cinema in 2022 with a cameo reprising his role as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 hit.

With additional reporting from Keith Kelly.