She’s the smartest member of Mystery Inc who’s been helping unmask nefarious villains and solve tricky mysteries since 1969. And now, after many, many years of fan speculation, it’s finally official: Scooby-Doo’s beloved bespectacled investigator, Velma Dinkley, is a lesbian.

In clips from the latest animated adventure Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo!, which was released on Tuesday, Velma (voiced by Kate Micucci) confesses that she has a crush on a new female character, the head of a costume crime syndicate named Coco Diablo (Myrna Velasco).

The antagonist is sent to prison by the gang of teen detectives, but not before Velma’s glasses steam up and her cheeks flush from embarrassment as she swoons over the object of her affections.

In one scene, Daphne (Grey Griffin) playfully teases Velma about her feelings for Coco. The bespectacled detective tries to deny it, then openly admits her crush.

“Oh, who am I kidding?” she cries. “I’m crushing big time, Daphne! What do I do? What do I say?”

Although many fans in the LGBTQ+ community have long been tuned into Velma’s queerness, it’s taken until this point for the character’s sexuality to be made explicit in the Scooby-Doo! canon.

In 2020, Tony Cervone, who worked as a showrunner on the 201o animated series Mystery Incorporated, wrote on Instagram that he intended Velma to be gay in the show, but it was cancelled before she could explore it.

“I’ve said this before, but Velma in Mystery Incorporated is not bi. She’s gay,” he explained. “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.”

James Gunn, who wrote the early live-action films, has also stated that he wanted the character to be openly gay but that it never materialised on screen.

“In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” he tweeted in 2020. “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).”

As clips from the new film surfaced online, fans were ecstatic that Velma’s sexuality had finally been acknowledged.

“I love the animation,” one person tweeted. “But not as much as I love Velma being who she truly is!!! Unapologetically lesbian. Perfection.”

“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,” wrote another.

“Velma getting her lesbian debut after five decades thank u,” tweeted another, while a third added: “I never thought I’d live to see the day when Velma is very clearly having gay thoughts on-screen.”

Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo! is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.

Images: Warner Bros Animation