Bolt’s New MCU Return Potential Addressed By X-Men Star

Published Aug 22, 2026, 6:16 PM EDT EXCLUSIVE: X-Men actor Dominic Monaghan addressed the prospect of reprising Bolt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Monaghan’s Bolt, a.k.a. Chris Bradley, served on Team X alongside Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Liev Schreiber’s Sabretooth, among others. Though Bolt was killed by the latter character, the MCU has shown a willingness to bring back actors from the Fox X-Men franchise to play different takes on their characters. So, if that’s hypothetically an option for Monagan’s electrically-gifted mutant, the actor is game to return to the role. In an interview with ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns for The Librarians: The Next Chapter season 2, Monaghan recalled having a “great time” working with actors like Ryan Reynolds and will.i.am, who played fellow Team X members Wade Wilson and John Wraith, respectively, in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Though the actor felt it was a shame that Bolt “had his light switched off by Liev's character,” he thinks the character could continue being explored, saying: But I think there are certainly more stories to tell with his character, and the new cast look great. I thought Sadie Sink in the Spider-Man film was fantastic, and I think she's going to be really good. The cast looked great, so maybe they should bring back an old-man version of me, an old, wisened version of me, locked away in some caravan somewhere. I'd totally be into it. With his ability to manipulate electricity and electronic objects, as well as send and receive radio transmissions with his mind, Monaghan’s Bolt was an invaluable asset to Team X, which was put together by Danny Huston’s William Stryker. However, once Wolverine left the group, it disbanded shortly thereafter, and Bolt applied his mutant ability to work at a circus. Six years after Wolverine’s departure, Sabretooth tracked down Monaghan’s character and killed him so that his power could be transferred to Wade, who’d forcibly been turned into Weapon XI. Despite this version of Bolt being long gone (even more so since X-Men: Days of Future Past retconned the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine out of existence), Monaghan is game to portray a different version of the character, particularly after seeing Sadie Sink’s performance as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Though the MCU has maintained a connection to the original X-Men film series through Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s also introduced variants of Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Beast in The Marvels. Looking ahead, the cast of December’s Avengers: Doomsday includes Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, and Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler. While it’s unclear if this is the same universe that the Beast from The Marvels lives in, it’s also inhabited by Channing Tatum’s Gambit, who was introduced in Deadpool & Wolverine. It has yet to be announced which X-Men characters, if any, will appear in Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027. After the Multiverse Saga concludes, the MCU will fully press the reset button on the X-Men property. The cast of the Jake Schreier-helmed X-Men reboot so far consists of Sink reprising Jean, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, Inde Navarette as Rogue, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Maya Boyd as Storm, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, and Adam Driver as Mister Sinister. It’s slated for release on May 5, 2028.