It Doesn't Seem Like A Promising Sign However You Look At It

Take a moment to consider the image below if you would.

I apologize for the glare at the bottom, this is a photograph, and I was trying to use the sun as a light source to avoid the glare stronger inside lighting would give off, and obviously it didn't quite work.

The image is from Deadpool #9. The barely visible word balloon at the bottom says, 'Because I love you.' It's Deadpool speaking to Black Widow #2. He teleported into Thunderbolts' HQ, they fought, he abruptly kissed her, she asked why, and that's the answer.

That's kind of an odd image to show when someone says "I love you", isn't it? It's not Yelena, in case you were wondering. She doesn't wear a skull mask, a flowing skirt/dress thing, weird bangles/bracelets at the wrists, or a hood. So what the heck's that all about?

Most of all, it looks like Death*, as she was portrayed in the Marvel Universe before they decided she should look like she does in Gaiman's Sandman series. Is it a sign that Deadpool loving you is a kiss of death? Nah, Siryn's still alive, and so's Cable, so probably not. Is it meant to signify this could get Deadpool killed? More plausible, since this is someone code-named "Black Widow" who is tasked with capturing and/or killing Deadpool. That's probably not the best person to be making declarations of affection towards**.

The third possibility I came up with was that Deadpool's hallucinating. It's not drawn in the somewhat more exaggerated style Medina favors for those scenes, but there's a chance. As I understand it, Deadpool sort of wooed Death at some point, so maybe he's getting confused as to which person he's talking to. He's dealing with someone who wants to make him dead, he sees them as Death, it's understandable. I make that mistake all the time***. The problem with that idea, besides the art issue I mentioned above, is that earlier in the issue Deadpool was going on and on about how he was sure he could make it work between him and Black Widow, so I don't think it's a case of mistaken identity.

* That was my first impression, but the second one was that it looks like Taskmaster in drag, and well, if they didn't seem to hate each other so much I could see Deadpool going for that. Though knowing Deadpool, he'd have let that slip at some point already.

** Unless you're sure said declarations will give them pause, enabling you to escape/kill them first.

*** Granted, I'm not telling the people trying to kill me I love them, but seeing them as Death itself certainly helps me run away faster so it's a mistake I can live with.