Top 10 Fantasy Battles
#10- Skeleton Battle “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963)
Kicking off our list is the classic battle in which the mythical Greek hero and his men seek out a legendary Golden Fleece. Unfortunately for them, they must battle terrifying and nearly unstoppable skeletal warriors. Perhaps the most iconic use of stop-motion ever, it really does show that CGI is missing something special. Plus, how many other battles end with the hero jumping of a cliff to safety?
#9- Nazi Raid “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1971)
In this Disney classic, a Nazi raiding party arrives on allied shores. Unfortunately for them, a British witch has access to a museum filled with suits of armor and army uniforms. Using her “substitutionary locomotion spell”, she sets the relics out to battle the invaders. Without any CGI or bloodshed, this battle yields hilarious results, and gives us a satisfying serving of some fascists getting a taste of their own medicine!
#8- Battle of Beruna “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” (2005)
In this unusual battlefield confrontation, four children join forces with an army of Narnians and talking mythical beasts to take on the evil forces of the White Witch. A colorful daylight battle, the Witches’ troops include Minotaur’s, ogres and werewolves. The result is a long drawn out battle filled with all kinds of animal abuse, memorable visuals and topped with an allegorical talking Jesus Lion!
#7- Lo Pan’s Wedding Clash “Big Trouble in Little China” (1986)
In this fantasy brawl, Kurt Russell plays a cocky trucker who joins forces with a ragtag team to stop the ghost of an ancient Chinese sorcerer. This results in cinema’s greatest wedding crash far beneath the streets of Chinatown. No other film features quite such an unlikely, and unprepared fellowship battling demons and demi-gods, complete with gravity defying action, swordplay, and Kurt Russell style confidence!
#6- Battle of Blackwater Bay “Game of Thrones” (2011-)
In what is decidedly the most epic and cinematic television fantasy war ever, the army of King’s Landing must face down Stannis Beratheon’s considerable fleet. Hopelessly outnumbered, they rely on a magical weapon called Wildfire to even the odds. A green flame that cannot be put out, even by even water, it ceremoniously kicked off one heck of a gate battle with whoever was fortunate not to be burned alive.
#5- Battle at the Great Wall “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008)
The Mummy series and its spin-offs have had many impressive battles, but the award goes to the third entry for its creativity, pitting an army of Terra Cotta warriors against the zombies corpses of those that were worked to death building the great wall of China! As if all that weren’t enough, there are also vehicular onslaughts, gunplay, sword fights, pottery smashing and lots of explosions!
#4- Castle Raid “Army of Darkness” (1992)
When boomstick-toting Ash is flung into the medieval past, he ends up accidentally creating an evil undead duplicate of himself and awaking an army of deadites! Paying tribute to “Jason and the Argonauts”, Ash and his army of Knights fight to protect the book of the Dead from stop-motion skeletons! Hilariously, Ash has a few tricks up his sleeve, including his steam powered death mobile with propeller blades!
#3- Battle of Hogwarts “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (2011)
In what is the ultimate confrontation of the series, this battle pits all of the wizards of Hogwarts, both students and teachers, against the forces of the Death Eaters and Voldermort’s creatures. Taking place at the school itself, this battle is filled with wand waving, deadly curses and one heck of a final showdown between Harry and the dark lord!
#2- Battle of Thermopylae “300” (2006)
This entire film is pretty much one unending battle between 300 Spartan warriors and the entire Persian army. Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, this mythical battle comes complete with a thrilling fantasy slant. Here, the spear carrying Spartans and their washboard abs confront wave after waves of horrific foes, including the masked immortals, enormous ogres and their god king himself. No fantasy battle will ever be this badass again!
#1- Battle of Helm’s Deep “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” (2002)
Taking the top spot on our list is the defensive battle between three hundred Rohirrim and their Elvin allies against ten thousand Urk-Hai. A siege that lasts all night until the dawn, it’s thrilling for its grandeur and the unnerving sense that it’s leading to a massacre. Thankfully, re-enforcements arrive in the nick of time. Return of the King’s final Battle was equally thrilling, but after this it just felt like an encore…
Agree with our list? Which fantasy battle was your favorite? For other entertaining Top 10s, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
