History
Eric Morrell was the sheriff of Doverton Colorado where he lived with his wife and children. The town was taken hostage and occupied by Carnage and they were trapped in the town. Eric managed to escape to a nearby zoo and contacted the Avengers, who sent Captain America, The Thing, Hawkeye, Wolverine, and Spider-Man to capture Carnage. They attempted to attack Carnage; however, Carnage simply bonded to Captain America, Thing, Hawkeye and Wolverine and possessed them. The U.S Army realized they needed other Symbiotes to fight Carnage and sent the Mercury Team to aid Eric and Spider-Man. The ensuing battle resulted in a majority of the town being destroyed, and as a result, Eric's family was killed.[1] After the tragedy, he quit his job as sheriff.
Years later, the graves of the casualties of Carnage's attack were all dug up by unknown trespassers, including the graves of his family. Eric contacted the higher officials and Man-Wolf was sent to help him investigate. They suspected a cult that recently arrived to the town, The Cult of Knull. When they interrogated their leader, she invited them to join one of their rituals. When they went there, John was unable to prevent Eric from being bonded to an offshoot of the Dark Carnage symbiote, before being himself bonded to one and forced to become a sleeper agent for the Cult. Eric, now under the sway of Knull, put up no resistance as his spine was removed so his codex could be fed to Carnage.[2]