Warning: this article contains spoilers for Deadpool #9!
It's official. Deadpool and Elsa Bloodstone have taken the crown as Marvel's weirdest (and possibly grossest) romance. It's a pretty abrupt change for the Merc with the Mouth. His last relationship was with Shiklah the Queen of the Monsters, and like most things in Wade Wilson's life, that ended pretty spectacularly. Currently Deadpool is a Monster King himself, ruling over Deadpoolopolis (formerly Staten Island.) But while the two have been flirting since his new series started, it took a dire set of circumstances to lead Elsa, the world's greatest monster hunter, into the arms of the world's most obnoxious monster king.
The descendant of a long line of monster hunters, Elsa Bloodstone is a gun-slinging badass. She takes her last name from the literal Bloodstone, a mystical rock embedded in her hand that grants her super strength and immortality. Surprisingly, Elsa's day job hasn't brought her into conflict with Wade. In fact, she's actually asked for his help to help rid her of a poison in the Bloodstone that is slowly killing her and rescue some children from the dimension of the Bone Beasts. Along the way, there was plenty of bickering and flirting between the unlikely duo. However, upon arrival in the Bone Beast dimension, the disgusting Queen of the Bone Beasts decides that the unnaturally durable Wade would would make the perfect new host body.
Deadpool #9 (from Kelly Thompson, Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava, and Chris Sotomayor) sees the birth of a new relationship. In an effort to protect Elsa and the kids, Deadpool cuts the poisoned Bloodstone out of Elsa's hand and merges it with himself. It gives the Merc with the Mouth a pretty big upgrade, but at a grim cost. The poison that was killing Elsa is now killing Wade, as seen by a set of red cracks pulsing through his body. Undeterred, Deadpool proceeds to battle the Bone Queen and her minions. In a final bid to buy enough time for Elsa to get the children to safety, Wade lets the Queen eat him before he sets off a large amount of explosives he had stored in his trademark '90s anti-hero pouches. The resulting explosion blows a large hole in the queen and splatters Wade into a gooey pile of guts and limbs. Elsa returns to the rescue, reabsorbing the now purified Bloodstone and finishing off the Bone Queen. In a rare moment of tenderness, the monster hunter plants a kiss on Deadpool's mangled head before quietly acknowledging their romantic connection. She then places an overjoyed Wade in an improvised Baby Bjorn for the long walk home.
This pairing is certainly one of Marvel's strangest, yet it's still sweet and oddly fitting. They're both heavily armed and essentially immortal anti-heroes with chemistry. Despite the conflicting job titles, they're a pairing that makes sense. The fact that Elsa isn't repulsed by Wade's severed head, instead kissing it, proves that she genuinely cares for the deranged mercenary. Wade Wilson and Elsa Bloodstone are both more than deserving of happiness.
For all of his faults, Deadpool is deep down an incredibly caring person who wants to do right by people. Wade has made for a surprisingly decent king for Staten Island's monster population. Therein lies the problem for the pair. One of them is a monster king, the other is a monster hunter. Conflict is inevitable, and Wade's subjects will no doubt feel pretty irked about their king seeing a woman who has probably killed a good number of their friends and family. What will Deadpool do if he's forced to choose between subjects he never asked for and a partner who actually gets him?