Velma Dinkley, a character from the Scooby-Doo franchise, was finally revealed to be a lesbian in the most recent animated film, Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!, putting an end to decades of rumors and speculation regarding her sexuality.
A new female love interest named Coco Diablo is the object of Velma’s affection in several scenes from the upcoming film.
This decision was made two years after James Gunn, the writer of the live-action Scooby-Doo films, admitted that he had written Velma as “explicitly gay” before the studio “watered it down” and ultimately removed the line from the script.
When Velma first comes into contact with Coco, she is depicted as falling head over heels in love with the glamorous woman.
When Velma sees Coco in the clip, she immediately comes to a complete stop and then begins to blush profusely.
‘And as promised, here are your Scooby snacks -‘ she begins right before the unexpected appearance of Coco takes her by surprise.
Another clip shows Velma gushing over Coco, but she is unable to hide her irritation when Coco puts her hand on Velma’s shoulder after Velma has been gushing over Coco.
‘I’m sure that Coco made some brilliant observations!’ Velma raves before Coco gently places her hand on her shoulder, prompting the turtleneck clad detective to melt.
‘The cute one’s right,’ Coco says. ‘Estefan! Show them my brilliant observations!’
After decades of speculation that the character was indeed lesbian, the fact that Velma’s sexuality was finally made canon caused fans all across Twitter to express their delight.
‘OMG LESBIAN VELMA FINALLY CANON CANON IN THE MOVIES LETS GOOOOOO,’ tweeted one fan.
‘Velma getting her lesbian debut after five decades thank u,’ tweeted another.
‘glad that velma dinkley gets to be officially a lesbian now but this is extremely unfair to my man shaggy: if we’re making all the old rumors true we MUST let him SMOKE WEED,’ tweeted another.
‘We have won. Velma is a lesbian with impeccable tastes,’ tweeted another.
‘Velma being gay is actually massive, we’re at a point in time when this major character, full of decades-old history and fans, gets to actually be a lesbian and that’s just another part of her canon now! Sometimes we need to celebrate these wins,’ another posted.
This latest turn of events takes place more than two years after Gunn disclosed that he had considered making Velma a lesbian character in the script he wrote for the live-action films. Scooby-Doo, released in 2002, and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, released in 2004, were both written by Gunn, and both featured Linda Cardellini in the role of Velma.
‘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),’ he tweeted.
In addition, Tony Cervone, who serves as a supervising producer on the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated series, has stated in the past that Velma was always meant to be a lesbian.
‘I’ve said this before, but Velma in ‘Mystery Incorporated’ is not bi. She’s gay,’ he wrote on Instagram in 2020. ‘We always planned on Velma acting a little off and out of character when she was dating Shaggy because that relationship was wrong for her and she had unspoken difficulty with the why.
‘There are hints about the why in that episode with the mermaid, and if you follow the entire Marcie arc it seems as clear as we could make it 10 years ago. I don’t think Marcie and Velma had time to act on their feelings during the main timeline, but post reset, they are a couple. You can not like it, but this was our intention.’
This new development comes after Velma caused a stir in the most recent and popular installment of the Scooby-Doo video game franchise, titled “MultiVersus.”
The video game was altered by Warner Brothers as a result of player feedback that referred to Velma as a “Karen” because of her propensity to call the police whenever a crime was successfully solved.
Velma, the bookish brunette member of the crime-solving gang, was designed to be able to flash a “wanted” poster and signal for the police to come once sufficient evidence had been gathered against a suspect. This ability was included in the new version of the game.
Since its release in July, the free game that features characters from across the Warner Bros. Discovery catalog has been played by over 20 million users. However, that particular move did not go over well with a portion of those users.
The game has been well received by critics and has gained a lot of popularity among gamers who play online; however, there has been some criticism directed at white women. The fact that Velma possessed the unique ability to report other characters to the authorities, including Lebron James from Space Jam, left some viewers with a sour taste in their mouths.
One petition on Change.org, which only garnered 33 signatures, requests that the company take the police car out of a chase scene involving Velma.
‘For decades, and especially in recent times, Black & Indigenous people of color around the world have suffered under police brutality and this cop car is ignoring the problem of police brutality in this day [and] age,’ reads the petition.
According to a second user of Twitter, the fact that Velma uses members of the law enforcement community in the game makes him, a black man, feel uneasy.
‘I am enjoying Velma in Multiversus but main(t)aining a character who’s special move is calling the police on her enemies definitely don’t sit right with me as a black man lol,’ wrote the account ‘he who vibes.’
Warner Bros. gave in to pressure from critics on the internet and modified Velma’s special move about a month ago. When she is finished with her criminals, she will now call the Mystery Squad to come and take them away.
The company did not provide an explanation for the adjustment, and it was implemented in tandem with a number of other minor tweaks that were made to the game after it had been made available to the public.
