Popular Scooby-Doo character Velma Dinkley is coming out of the closet after 53 years.
The newest Scooby-Doo movie, Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo!, shows the brainy sleuth developing a serious crush on a female costume designer named Coco Diablo, as you can see in the clip below.
The news isn’t exactly shocking to fans of the franchise: Velma’s sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation almost since the first Scooby-Doo series debuted in 1969.
And it wasn’t just the viewers who suspected Velma wasn’t straight.
Variety pointed out that Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn, who wrote the script for the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo film, and Tony Cervone, the supervising producer on the “Mystery Incorporated” series, both confirmed Velma liked women, but were never able to make it an official part of her character.
James previously tweeted: “In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script, but the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”
Tony revealed on Instagram back in 2020 that the other people on the show “made our intentions as clear as we could 10 years ago,” and added: “Most of our fans got it. To those that didn’t, I suggest you look closer.”
Many Twitter users were happy about the news, but not necessarily surprised.
Very confused to learn some people thought Velma was ...straight?
— Lissete Lanuza Sáenz(@lizziethat) October 4, 2022
Although this long-standing question has been resolved, there is no word on whether there are plans to answer another popular rumour about the Mystery Inc gnag, by depicting Shaggy and Scooby-Doo as stoners.
