There's nothing that conveys the unconventional splendor of fantasy quite like the appearance of dragons. Westeros was just another medieval kingdom in Game of Thrones until dragons showed up. Maleficent was plenty intimidating, but when she added dragon transformation to her roster of spells, she truly became the Mistress of Evil. And Middle-Earth was never as magical as when a hobbit, a wizard, and a company of dwarves faced down Smaug to reclaim the Lonely Mountain.
Dragons can be campy and comical creatures, like in Disney's The Reluctant Dragon in 1941, or they can be terrifying guardians to conquer, like in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1958. As dragons have been featured in cinema, they've gone through a metamorphosis, and four-legged beasts have become two-legged winged creatures, known in films like Reign of Fire as wyverns. No matter their configuration, dragons and wyverns are creatures of incredible strength and beauty that command respect and ignite the imagination of fantasy movie fans.
Updated on December 10th, 2020 by Kayleena Pierce-Bohen: Dragons are still arresting fantasy lovers of all creeds, and whether they like dragons or wyverns, they can find the mythical beasts soaring high in a number of fantasy movies. And just because the winged creatures might appear in children's movies or foreign language cinema, doesn't make them any less impressive or awe-inspiring.
WYVERN: DIAVAL (MALEFICENT)
In the 1959 Disney animated classic Sleeping Beauty, it's the powerful sorceress Maleficent that transforms herself into a four-legged dragon, but in the 2014 live-action reboot of the fairytale Maleficent, it's her stalwart minion Diaval who gets transformed from a raven into a towering wyvern.
Unfortunately, lacking front legs, he's unable to repel as many of the castle guards as he should, but he manages to do quite a bit of damage before he's captured. In the sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, it's Maleficent who transforms into a giant phoenix and causes much more collateral damage.
DRAGON: DRACO (DRAGONHEART)
Draco was the last dragon in Europe according to Dragonheart, the medieval fantasy film that chronicled his adventures with Sir Bowen, the last of the noble knights. Together, they conned villagers into thinking Bowen had "slayed" their dragon problem, only for Draco to reappear somewhere else and the grift to begin again.
Their true honor is tested when Sir Bowen is called upon to battle King Einnon, in whose service he was once pledged, but who has strayed far from Bowen's teachings of chivalry and enslaved his own subjects. Draco is able to repel Einnon's forces with ease, until he must make the ultimate sacrifice to save the kingdom's mistreated populace.
WYVERN: BULL DRAGON (REIGN OF FIRE)
The dragons featured in Reign of Fire were considered to be prehistoric, ancient reptiles that, while categorized with dinosaurs, were responsible for their extinction. Most of the dragons in the film were female, and roughly 32-40 feet long, but the only male dragon was 150 feet long, with a wingspan of 320 feet.
This Bull Dragon was the main cause of the destruction of major metropolitan areas across the globe, most notably London where the film spends the majority of its time. Modern weapons weren't enough to kill him, and he was able to slaughter global communities numbering in the millions of victims before he was finally killed.
DRAGON: TARO (THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD)
Looming large in the 1958 fantasy epic The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, the dragon Taro was the most fearsome creature of his kind ever seen on film up until that point. Developed by movie wizard Roy Harryhausen, who specialized in advanced visual effects, he was a large, four-legged scaly creature that resembled a typical European dragon in every way but devoid of wings.
In one iconic scene, Taro does battle with the mighty Cyclops of Greek mythology, another antagonist of Sinbad's on his perilous journey. Despite being marionettes, the two figures seem gargantuan, and eventually, Taro is victorious. seen here crushing Cyclops beneath his front legs.
WYVERN: SMAUG (THE HOBBIT TRILOGY)
After destroying Lake Town and driving all the dwarves out of Erebor, Smaug the fire drake tucked himself away for 171 years before Bilbo Baggins and his company of dwarves set out to reclaim the Lonely Mountain treasure horde. Next to some of the creatures commanded by Morgoth or Sauron, Smaug was one of the most fearsome entities in Middle Earth.
Smaug was not only highly destructive, he was also fiercely intelligent, which was why he was able to incinerate Dale, Erebor, and Eskeroth and kill tens of thousands of inhabitants. He was finally killed by Bard the Bowman, but only after Bilbo told Bard about a weakness in his scales.
DRAGON: HYDRA (HERCULES)
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson might have met his match when, as Hercules the legendary hero of myth, he faced off against the Hydra. The mythical beast is one of several that he, along with his band of mercenaries, encounter as they perform missions of mercy around the Ancient World.
The film is a revisionist telling of Hercules' Twelve Labors, the daring feats of heroism he is purported to have accomplished alone, revealed this time to be with the help of his friends. The Hydra, one of his greatest challenges, is supremely difficult to kill, since every time one of its heads is cut off, a new one grows in its place.
WYVERN: KING GHIDORAH (GODZILLA)
The arch-enemy of the kaiju Godzilla, the three-headed wyvern King Ghidorah has been attacking his nemesis ever since the 1964 film Ghidorah Three Headed Dragon. He reappeared to challenge Godzilla for supremacy in the 2019 film Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Over the years, Ghidorah's appearance has changed, but he is always larger than Godzilla, with spines along his head and down his neck, and notably larger and straighter horns on his primary head. In the 2019 version, his wings are larger and more bat-like, and his wings serve to maneuver his massive body, but he retains his twin whip-like tails.
DRAGON: NIGHT FURY (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON)
From the popular How To Train Your Dragon animated film franchise, Toothless is a Night Fury, one of the rarest dragons known to exist and the last of his kind. Once thought of as the "offspring between lightning and death itself", Toothless turned out to be inquisitive, playful, and affectionate, especially to his best friend Hiccup.
As a Night Fury, Toothless warrants respect from Vikings and dragons alike. He has sonar abilities conducted through a plasma blast, and his speed allows him to dive-bomb targets in a way unmatched by his peers. He's able to hold his own in the film series against much larger dragons like the Monstrous Nightmare, Razorwhip, and Whispering Death.
WYVERN: VERMITHRAX PEJORATIVE (DRAGONSLAYER)
For it's time, the 1981 sword-and-sorcery film Dragonslayer used some of the most sophisticated visual effects in cinema. The dragon antagonist at the center of its plot, Vermithrax Pejorative, was one of the most impressive fantasy creatures up to that point, even if it was only a puppet.
Vermithrax Pejorative dwelled in the land of Urland, where the wizard Ulrich had been bringing it virgin maidens to prevent it from slaughtering the kingdom. Eventually, when Ulrich is killed, his apprentice Galen decides to try to kill the dragon before Ulrand's princess is the next sacrifice.
DRAGON: DRAGONSTORM (TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT)
Assembled with the 12 Guardian Knights of Cybertron, the Cybertronian mechanized beast Dragonstorm was formed to help Merlin and King Arthur oppose threats from Quintessa, as well as drive out Saxon armies in the 5th century. He's never been defeated in battle, and saved the fabled kingdom of Camelot from being overrun by raiders.
As he appears in Transformers: The Last Knight, Dragonstorm is roughly 80 feet tall when assembled, with a length of three times that. Being a giant transformer that's a combination of 12 other transformers, Dragonstorm has superior strength, agility, and defenses to that of a biological dragon. He's able to kill Decepticons with ease, and even do battle with the mighty Infernicus.
WYVERN: FELLBEAST (LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS)
Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy brought an astounding number of mythical beasts to the fore, populating J.R.R. Tolkien's realm of Middle-Earth using the latest in CGI technology. Along with the Balrog from The Fellowship of the Ring, one of the most intimidating creatures were the fellbeasts, the wyverns upon which the ringwraiths rode and sought the One Ring, giving the undead an even greater advantage.
Called hell-hawks by some, the Nazgul rode them after being unhorsed by Arwen at the Ford of Bruinen. Just as many people view fantasy creatures like dragons and wyverns as relatives of real-dragons, the fellbeast too seems to be something from a bygone geological era or to quote "The Return of the King", "a creature of an older world".
DRAGON: ELLIOT (PETE'S DRAGON)
When a young boy named Pete loses both his parents on a road trip involving a collision with a deer, he thinks he's lost the only people who will ever matter to him. He never expects a huge dragon with green fur, yellow eyes, and huge wings to enter his life and save him from his grief.
Though Pete's Dragon is primarily a feel-good children's adventure, Pete's dragon Elliot is still an impressive dragon in his own right, who defends Pete from wolves in the forest, and protects his arboreal home from the loggers who try to ruin it.
WYVERN: HUNGARIAN HORNTAIL (HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE)
The Harry Potter films brought JK Rowling's fantasy wizard series to life using magical characters and creatures found in the pages of her immensely popular books. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry and his friends face off against a series of challenges, including fighting the Hungarian Horntail.
One of the most dangerous dragons alive, the dragon guarded the Cursed Vaults by shooting fire up to twenty feet (or more), and standing an imposing fifty feet tall. The movie and book version of the dragon differ somewhat, with the film version taking the form of a wyvern, with no forelegs.
DRAGON: DRAGON (SHREK)
Though she might have been underestimated because of her penchant for looking fabulous in pink lipstick, Shrek's Dragon was every bit as ferocious as her male counterparts. She was able to steal and secure Princess Fiona for years by incinerating any noble knight who came to rescue her.
The only person to melt her heart was Donkey, and if any harm befell him, she was ready to crush, chomp, or barbecue his enemies. She created some of the most exciting and frightening moments in the first movie, before becoming a helpful ally to Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and their pals in the remaining sequels.
WYVERN: ARMAN (I AM DRAGON)
In the enchanting Russian film I Am Dragon, Princess Miroslava gets kidnapped by a fearsome wyvern and whisked away to his island castle just before her wedding can take place. She's doomed to live in a cage, with no possible way to contact her family or her bridegroom, unsure of her captor's true intentions.
Eventually, she meets a young man named Arman, who appears to be the only other human on the dragon's island. Eventually, she realizes that the young man and the dragon might be one and the same. Not only is Arman powerful in his wyvern form, but the ability to change into a human to blend into their population is a handy skill.