WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Deadpool: Black, White & Blood #4, available now from Marvel Comics.

Throughout his career, Deadpool has earned a reputation for his willingness to kill just about anyone. Even after "retiring" from murder-for-hire work and becoming a more heroic figure, Deadpool has proven time and again that he's willing to cross lines that other heroes won't, which has led to some heartbreaking situations.

While events like his reunion with his long-lost daughter Ellie have significantly softened Deadpool, the Merc with the Mouth is still a killer for hire. And in Deadpool: Black, White and Blood #4's "Cherry" (by Christopher Yost, Martin Coccolo, Mattia Iacono, and VC's Joe Sabino), Deadpool is forced to battle an out-of-control science experiment, the Devil Drink Dino, a fruit drink mascot who has several similarities to Kool-Aid Man.

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"Cherry" opens with Deadpool being escorted to an island laboratory by agents of A.I.M. who have paid a healthy sum for Deadpool's services. As soon as they enter the facility, things take an ominous turn as Deadpool notices that the lab has suffered tremendous collateral damage and that dead A.I.M. agents litter the floor. After one of the A.I.M. agents realizes that "it" is closing in on them, they retreat to the lab's bunker, where the surviving A.I.M agents huddle in terror as the lab's surviving staff cower in terror. As Deadpool demands to know what's going on, a massive creature resembling a dinosaur-shaped pitcher crashes into the room through the wall, screaming "Aww Snap!" in an obvious homage to the Kool-Aid Man.

Deadpool immediately recognizes the creature as the mascot for Devil Dino Drink, a fruit drink that's seemingly named after Marvel's heroic Devil Dinosaur and closely resembles Kool-Aid. One of the agents explains that the creature is the deranged passion project of the lab's director, Karl, who developed an unhealthy obsession with the Devil Dino Drink mascot during his childhood and wished to bring it to life. Deadpool quickly opens fire on the mascot, blasting holes in its body that leak Devil Dino Drink all over the floor. After the creature bites off his arm, Deadpool demands that the surviving A.I.M agents help him kill the "monsters", the mascot stops attacking and asks if that's what Deadpool sees it as.

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Shocked that the creature can speak, Deadpool listens as it explains that it only wants to bring peace to the world by quenching humanity's innate thirst for bloodshed, hoping to use the massacre of the lab's staff to show the rest of the world how wrong violence is. Deadpool is deeply touched by the creature's motivations and sadly states that he wishes that it had spoken up sooner. As it turns out, the arm that the mascot devoured was holding a belt of grenades, which explode within its "stomach" and kill it. As the room is coated with Devi Dino Drink, Deadpool acknowledges that this killing was messed-up even for him.

The Devil Dino Drink mascot's death is surprisingly tragic, as its honest desire to help humanity makes it a sympathetic creature, despite the brutality of its actions. To make things even worse, Deadpool himself has obviously been trying to become a better person, and his murder of a well-meaning creature is an unfortunate reminder of the past he's trying to leave behind.

Although Deadpool almost immediately jokes about the Devil Dino Drink mascot's resemblance to the Kool-Aid Man by mentioning that someone is about to get sued, Marvel has previously published comics featuring the actual Kool-Aid Man before. From 1983 to 1985, Marvel published The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man, a short series of comics advertising Kool-Aid that featured the Kool-Aid Man protecting children from the "Thirsties", aliens who wished to deprive the world of the sweet taste and refreshing power of Kool-Aid. Keeping things on-brand, the Kool-Aid Man would often appear on the scene by crashing through a wall or sign while shouting his iconic catchphrase, "Oh Yeah!"

While The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man was one of many licensed comics that isn't part of the main Marvel Universe, that beloved mascot's real-world reputation greatly informs this story. While killing a creature who seems ostensibly good is hard enough on Deadpool, killing one that he may have a personal nostalgic connection with turns this mission into a full-on tragedy.

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