This can only be saved for me if the Marquis turns out to be a more twisted alternate universe-counterpart to John Kowalski from the Man-Thing series: an actual manifestation of Death in human form. However, since Millar can't even get the characterization of the most famous villain in the whole frickin' Marvel Universe right, I wouldn't put any money on him being aware of an obscure character who appeared in ten stories back in the 70s.