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After years of playing a variety of different roles - including western outlaws, sports aficionados, and post-apocalyptic warriors, to name a few - Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker Kevin Costner finally became a comic book movie star after appearing in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (from beyond the grave) as Clark Kent’s adoptive father, Jonathan Kent. However, it appears that the fate of the DCEU movies is currently up, up, and away in the air, but I do not want this to be the last that we see of the Yellowstone Season 4 star in superhero movies just yet. My solution is the same solution that many other DC actors have gone for: the Marvel movies, for which I have several characters suited for Costner in mind, actually, including one character the man has already done the necessary homework for.
Ben Parker
As the guardian of the boy who would grow up to become Superman, Kevin Costner in Man of Steel stressed to young Clark Kent that his Kryptonian abilities are an extraordinary force to be reckoned with that must be handled with the utmost care. A saying (or motto, if you will) quite similar to that message was popularized by another comic book character who has yet to make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Of course, I am talking about Spider-Man’s uncle, Ben, who managed to teach his nephew the most important lesson of his life before his tragic death, which we never got to see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker experience. While I would agree that Robert Downey’s Jr.’s Tony Stark did a great job filling the role of Spidey’s father figure, I think many would also like to see at least a brief glimpse at his relationship with Ben in the MCU. Kevin Costner’s Jonathan Kent proves he is not only open to brief cameos but has a real talent of delivering fatherly advice.
Phantom Rider
Kevin Costner is much better known for westerns like Silverado and Open Range, which is how he earned the lead role in the Yellowstone cast as John Dutton. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has yet to make an attempt to tackle this once dominant movie genre, but I think a fun to at least pay homage to it would be by casting the actor as Carter Slade, better known as the Phantom Rider.
Before you get this mysterious, 19th-Century hero confused with a certain skeletal cyclist from Marvel, I will have you know that Ghost Rider was actually the original moniker of Carter Slade after the slain former school teacher was resurrected by a Native American. In fact, outside of Slade’s cowboy fashion sense and choice to ride a horse instead of motorcycle, the mystical justice seekers have a few things in common and have even crossed paths in the comics. Maybe, whenever the MCU decides to reboot the property, that could be a fun way to bring Phantom Rider into franchise, as played by Kevin Costner.
Deacon Frost
Lest we forget, Kevin Costner has also dabbled in the horror genre a couple of times, most notably in the supernatural thriller Dragonfly from 2002. However, he was the “hero” of that story and was not given the chance to be scary. Well, the MCU already has the perfect opportunity for him to change that in the works.
One of the top rivals of Blade, the half-man, half-vampire hunter of such nocturnal bloodsuckers, is Deacon Frost - a scientist whose pursuit of eternal life ended up turning him into a creature of the night. However, in the 1998 adaptation starring Wesley Snipes, the villain who is more traditionally elderly and white-haired, was played by future True Detective star Stephen Dorff, who was just 25 years old at the time. Kevin Costner might be a better fit for the role if the Marvel’s highly anticipated Blade reboot chooses him as the central antagonist of Mahershala Ali’s new take on the role.
Galactus
On the other hand, an actor of Kevin Costner’s experience and talent deserves to play a Marvel Comics character with some real meat on its bones. That being said, if we want to focus primarily on potential villains for him to play, there are few villains in the Marvel Universe (or even the Marvel Multiverse if we really want to think big here) than Galactus.
The formerly human space explorer of unlimited power, insurmountable size, and an appetite for planets has been rumored to be taking over Josh Brolin’s Thanos as the next big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Phase 4. I think many, not counting any fans who favor Doctor Doom as their favorite villain, would agree that bringing in Galactus would be a step in the right direction and the key to pulling it off is enlisting an actor with a profound sense of presence who can speak with some real authority in his voice. For everything Kevin Costner is famous for, that may be one of the most notable factors of his career.
Tony Robb
Actually, when I think of Kevin Costner, I think of baseball. Some of the actor’s most famous roles have come from movies about America’s favorite pastime, including Bull Durham from 1998, the fantasy drama Field of Dreams the following year, and For Love of the Game - an extreme change of pace for director Sam Raimi in 1999. The most fitting way to get Costner into the Marvel Cinematic Universe might be to cast him as a baseball player.
Luckily, I did manage to find such a character named Tony Robb, a mutant who used his ability to momentarily change his position in reality to his advantage on the baseball field. Unfortunately, his MLB career ended when he suffered a sniper shot as he was about to make his 70th home run and his powers were discovered. Since we know that Marvel Studios is working on an X-Men reboot, this might be a fun thing to at least pay reference to, especially if Kevin Costner is the one playing Robb, recalling the glory days before his accident.
Of course, there is also the chance that not even a part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could tap Kevin Costner’s performance as Jonathan Kent. However, if you do see a future for the actor in the Marvel movies, which character would you like to see him play?
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