Anti-Symbiote Task Force (Earth-616)

Origins[]

The Anti-Symbiote Task Force was a division of the FBI established in the wake of Carnage's attack on Doverton, Colorado.^[5] Helmed by Special Agent Claire Dixon, the Anti-Symbiote Task Force was dispatched in order to hunt down Carnage, as well as deal with other symbiote-related threats.^[6]

Tracking Carnage's movements for two years,^[7] the task force also spent several weeks monitoring the symbiote-augmented antihero Eddie Brock, host of the Toxin symbiote and former host of the Venom symbiote, and succeeded in capturing him while he was acting as a vigilante in Philadelphia. Brock was subsequently injected with heavy doses of Symbiote Inhibitor and forcibly conscripted by the task-force with Claire as his handler, intending to use him as a last-resort weapon against Carnage.^[6]

Hunt for Carnage[]

Upon learning that Grey Ridge Investments had hired Manny Calderon - the sole survivor of Cletus Kasady's first killing spree - as a security consultant due to her military expertise, Agent Dixon arranged with Grey Ridge's managing director Barry Gleason to set a trap to capture or kill Carnage. In addition to the numerous FBI agents assigned to assist her, Agent Dixon also recruited Colonel John Jameson due to his ability to transform into a werewolf-like monster.^[6]

The task force's first attempt to capture or kill Carnage ended in failure due to Gleason - who was secretly a member of the Cult of the Darkhold - betraying them. Carnage slaughtered most of the task force's agents before being plunged into the depths of the mine by a cave-in. Gleason escorted Carnage to an ancient temple in the mine's depths, where the Cult of the Darkhold attempted to sacrifice him to revive the eldritch god Chthon. Kasady and his symbiote were augmented by the eldritch tome known as the Darkhold and escaped despite Dixon collapsing the mine.^[8]

As a result of the catastrophic failure, Agent Dixon was reprimanded and scapegoated by her superiors, and the task force was officially disbanded. However, Agent Dixon was approached by Victoria Montesi - a high-ranking member of a monster-hunting organization called the Children of Midnight, who offered to hire and privately fund the task force in order to stop Carnage and the Cult of the Darkhold from awakening Chthon. Dixon, Calderon, and Jameson accepted Montesi's proposal; and on Calderon's insistance raided a secret FBI prison compound to recruit Brock and Toxin.^[9]

The Anti-Symbiote Task Force tracked Carnage to Jakarta, Indonesia, and discovered he had turned on the Darkhold Cult and hijacked a freighter called the Caspian Sea. Pursuing the ship in a chartered yacht, the task force battled a horde of Human-Symbiote Hybrids created by Carnage's experiments with his augmented powers. While Jameson and Montesi's assistant Yuvraj Singh rigged the ship to explode, Agent Dixon was separated from the group and captured by Carnage,^[10] who bonded her to a Darkhold-augmented symbiote spawned from his own. With Agent Dixon - now called Raze - forced to obey Carnage's commands, the task force fell under Montesi's command. Raze and Carnage were presumed deceased when the ship exploded,^[11] but the latter was revealed to have survived when the task force came across a South African girl named Jubulile van Scotter - who had also been infected with a Darkhold-augmented offshoot of Carnage's symbiote.^[12]

Using Jubulile's new psychic link to Carnage, the Anti-Symbiote Task Force tracked Carnage to the Chthonic Island in the Timor Sea, secretly followed by Raze - who revealed herself to rescue Carnage from the Broodlings of Chthon.^[13] Following Carnage and Raze to the Temple of Chthon at the island's core, the task force was unable to stop Carnage from summoning Chthon.^[14] Absorbing the Toxin and Raze symbiotes into her own, Jubulile was able to banish Chthon back to K'lay - his extradimensional domain - though the symbiotes seemingly perished as a result.^[15] Freed from Carnage's control, Dixon sacrificed herself to protect her team from his wrath, dying in Eddie Brock's arms. With Carnage now in custody, Jubulilie, Manuela, Jameson, and Montesi went their separate ways.^[16] Eddie Brock remained the sole active member of the task force, officially joining the FBI and unsuccessfully attempting to recruit new members.

Hunting Venom[]

As the de-facto leader of the Anti-Symbiote Task Force, Eddie was brought in when a new Venom appeared and began using his former symbiote for evil.^[2] Having grown dissatisfied with his fellow agents disparaging and mistrusting him, Eddie defected from the FBI and reclaimed the Venom symbiote, resuming his career as a vigilante.^[17]

Claire Dixon was resurrected by the eldritch magic of the Darkhold, returning to the FBI and resuming leadership of the Taskforce; keeping tabs on Eddie Brock following his return to being Venom. When it was discovered that the Venom symbiote was about to reproduce, she recruited the Scorpion to become the newborn symbiote's host due to his prior experience as the Venom symbiote's host and his membership in Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers. Dixon assembled a team of agents armed with energy weapons to subdue and capture Venom, ordering them not to kill Eddie out of respect for their brief partnership. When Venom was captured, his symbiote attempted to escape and bond to Dixon, but Eddie was outfitted with a control collar before it could do so.^[18] Venom was freed by Spider-Woman, and Dixon was forced to incapacitate the Scorpion to stop him from killing Eddie. Upon being told that the symbiote's spawn was stillborn, Dixon apologized to Eddie for his loss before fainting from a concussion, and after regaining consciousness returned to the FBI.^[19]

Later Activities[]

In the wake of Venom defeating an ancient symbiote-dragon, an extraction team working for the Maker impersonated members of the Anti-Symbiote Task Force in order to acquire a surviving sample of the symbiote-dragon.^[1]

Following Carnage being reanimated using the sample of the symbiote-dragon, assuming leadership of a symbiote-worshipping cult, and launching a massive attack with a horde of symbiote-infected minions, the Anti-Symbiote Task Force was dispatched to claim jurisdiction from local authorities and deal with the cleanup; laying claim to the apparent corpse of an ancient crimson symbiote.^[5]

In the wake of Knull's invasion of Earth and Carnage's attack on Washington DC, Senator Arthur Krane established a new Symbiote Task Force armed with anti-symbiote weaponry supplied by Alchemax and the Life Foundation.^[3]

Symbiote suppressant drugs and control shock collars.

Sonic rifles and energy guns.