Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo is one of the most iconic characters in animation, and one of the most progressive. A highly intelligent woman who literally and figuratively carried her friends through one harrowing adventure after another, Velma was a role model to millions (even if she always lost her glasses).
Velma's history and background both in the world of the show and in the real world are much more complicated than any of the mysteries the team has ever solved, though. She continues to be a fascinating character over fifty years after her debut. Here are ten things you never knew about Velma Dinkley.
10 Intended To Be Lesbian In Feature Film
Velma made her live-action debut in the 2002 Scooby-Doo feature film written and directed by James Gunn. While fans have debated Velma's sexuality from the beginning, Gunn intended to explicitly show that Velma was indeed a lesbian.
His initial draft of the film however was watered down by studio interference, to the point that any trace of Velma being lesbian vanished from the final edited film. Her sexuality unfortunately was erased even more so in the sequel, in which she had a boyfriend and the character is sexualized in a way she never has been in other versions.
9 She Is Gay In The New Animated Series
Despite the missed opportunity in the live-action films, Velma's sexuality did get a vote of confidence in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated animated series that ran from 2010 to 2013. Producer Tony Cervone confirmed fans' speculation in an Instagram post where he revealed that Velma was gay.
Since depictions of same-sex romance in animated shows aimed at young adults was a tricky subject even ten years ago, her sexuality was subtle, but definitely there.
8 Was In Love With Shaggy (Once)
The revelation about Velma's sexuality in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated animated series may have caught some fans off guard because a big feature of the show's first season was Velma's romance with Shaggy. This was a big change from past versions in and of itself, and not entirely popular.
But her determined efforts to woo Shaggy, which were shown as not being too different from her dogged desire to solve mysteries, was actually intended to show how off course Velma was according to Cervone, and was later amended with her relationship with Marcie.
7 Her Middle Name Is Daisy
Scooby-Doo! has never been a show super into details about its characters, preferring just to throw them into the mystery of the week. But every once in a while, a little nugget comes out about one of the gang. In the made-for-TV film Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, fans find out that her middle name is Daisy.
Hayley Kiyoko plays Velma in this installment of the live-action franchise, in which the gang tries to solve the mystery of, surprisingly, a lake monster. In the story, Velma is possessed by a witch but is freed through the magic of song.
6 "Oh My!"
Another bit of neat in-universe information about Velma came in the form of a series of animated shorts that ran on Cartoon Network. Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, which was also known as Those Meddling Kids, spotlit each member of the Scooby Gang and added in some additional information about them.
In Case Five: Velma, That Meddling Brain we find out that before Velma said her trademark phrase "Jinkies!" she just said "Oh my!" "Jinkies," it turns out, was originally something that Shaggy said.
5 She Was A Villain (Once)
Velma didn't have any choice in being possessed by a witch, but one time she broke bad as so many heroes do. The biggest and most dubious example occurs in the second season of Mystery Incorporated.
Fans find out that Velma is secretly working for the series' Big Bad, Mr. E, in addition to an unmasked villain from season one, Marcie "Hot Dog Water" Fleach, who just happens to be Velma's rival in her school's science fairs. Things get set right eventually, and Marcie and Velma end up as more than friends.
4 Super Strong
Velma is without a doubt the brains of the Scooby Gang. But she's also apparently strong, and perhaps one of the strongest people in the bizarre Scooby-Doo! universe.
One more than one occasion, Velma has shown serious Hulk-like strength. She routinely lifts not just one but all of the other members of the gang and then runs with them from whatever monster is chasing them. She should probably just stay put and throw a punch.
3 Shifting Backstory
It's sometimes hard for fans to know a ton about Velma Dinkley because the details about the character are often vague and shifting. Part of this is to do to the continual reboots Scooby-Doo! goes through in live-action and in animation, and part of it is because there's never really been much established about the character.
Some comic book characters like Wolverine go through long periods without a whole lot of definition in their backstory. While Velma isn't Wolverine, her backstory is a little fuzzy. She's been a student with the others at the same school and not; she has siblings, and she doesn't; she's straight and she's not. It unfortunately depends on the showrunners and producers.
2 Inspired By Zelda Gilroy
The look and character of Velma were inspired by a character probably unfamiliar to audiences today. Back in the 1960s, Zelda Gilroy (played by actress Sheila James) was a popular and recognizable character from the hit sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
Zelda's penchant for plaid skirts and her manifest intelligence, especially in contrast to Dobie and the other characters, provided an early template for the brainy book nerd/hero Velma would pioneer and later characters like Willow from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer would build upon.
1 "Jinkies!"
Though Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes assigns the credit for "Jinkies!" to Shaggy, the legendary catchphrase actually is a product entirely of Velma, or rather, the actress who played her.
The original voice actress for Velma, Nicole Jaffe, portrayed the character in both Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-72) and The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972-74). She ad-libbed the phrase early on in the production of the first series, inadvertently creating an instant classic that would be quoted back to her for the rest of her life.