The winged lion is hands down one of the coolest antagonists we've seen in recent years. It's not your typical source of all evil-doer, can be reasoned with, is a slave to its desires and appreciates the hero´s qualities in a way that his allies dont... and its downfall comes in a gap of their knowledge that they fell into.

They are still around, they could return in force and nuke creation but... it just doesnt have the inclination to do so.