The fantasy 'dire wolf' and the real 'dire wolf' have close to zero in common, except that the real dire wolf was adapted for eating megafauna and thus had the

The fantasy 'dire wolf' and the real 'dire wolf' have close to zero in common, except that the real dire wolf was adapted for eating megafauna and thus had the strongest bite of all canines. And therein lies the problem, they went extinct because their prey went extinct - unless you bring back the mammoths for them to hunt, they're never going to survive in the wild; and are essentially "a wolf with a bigger appetite" to keep captive.