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    James Gunn on Ending Guardians of the Galaxy

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    In a spoiler-filled interview, the writer-director discusses the characters’ surprising end points and his relief at bringing the trilogy to a close.When a film is billed as the last installment of a trilogy, fans can’t help but speculate: Who’s going to die? A blockbuster franchise rarely wraps without a few significant casualties, each noble sacrifice underscoring the definitive end to come.But with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” the writer-director James Gunn wanted to finish the trilogy on his own terms, even if that meant circumventing fan expectations. (Major spoilers follow.)The most surprising thing about the conclusion of this long-running Marvel series is that all of the main characters survive and even thrive. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) returns to Earth, the home planet he had avoided since childhood, and passes leadership of the Guardians to Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), who forms a new team featuring Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and their reformed antagonist Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Drax (Dave Bautista) stay behind to help the citizen settlers who’ve moved into the bustling space-base Knowhere, while Mantis (Pom Klementieff) departs on a solo journey to better understand herself.And Gamora (Zoe Saldaña)? Well, her path through the Marvel universe has been complicated: The Gamora we originally knew was murdered by her father, Thanos, back in “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), then supplanted by a time-traveling variant who had no history with the Guardians. That new version gets roped into assisting the Guardians in “Vol. 3,” and though she comes to understand what the other Gamora might have felt for a still lovestruck Quill, she can’t get there herself and bids the group a bittersweet goodbye.The endings all feel more like new beginnings, and that’s a reflection of the deep affection Gunn feels for his ensemble: He wants the best for these characters, particularly Rocket, whom he admits to a “strange connection” with. He’s even had many of these outcomes in mind since he wrote the first “Guardians” (2014), though there was a time when he wondered if he’d get to see them through: As preproduction began on “Vol. 3,” he was briefly fired over a controversy involving his old tweets.Though Disney eventually rehired Gunn, making the movie had to wait. He had already been poached by Warner Bros. and DC Comics to direct “The Suicide Squad,” and that budding relationship proved so fruitful that Gunn will now oversee a total rehaul of DC’s slate, which will begin with a new take on Superman that he will direct. That means “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is not just the end of a trilogy but the culmination of Gunn’s decade at Marvel.How does he feel now that it’s all come to a close? “Sad and proud,” he said by phone earlier this week, as he prepared to discuss the ending of “Vol. 3” in depth. “But I feel like we did what we set out to do and I don’t think we could have done it much better than how we did it.”Clockwise from center, Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, the Vin Diesel-voiced Groot, Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan in “Vol. 3.” All of their characters survive at the end.Marvel Studios/Marvel Studios-Disney, via Associated PressAll of the Guardians of the Galaxy survive the film and head out on new paths. Were you ever tempted to bring any of these characters to a more final end?Gamora was going to die originally in “Vol. 2” [2017], and then we talked about it happening in “Infinity War” and that worked better for the story. But the rest of them, I always knew where they were going. I knew that the whole trilogy is about Rocket, who we think of as a supporting character, becoming the captain of the Guardians.The arc with Peter Quill, in some ways, you can look at as that of many people who have experienced childhood trauma. He was by his mother’s bedside when she died, and he ran away and went into outer space — which, for other people, could be shutting off from the world — and stayed there for a long time until he came to the realization as an adult that he needed to go back to Earth. That, for me, was always his journey.Nebula becomes a leader, but a different sort of leader from where she was. Mantis goes off on her own and takes care of herself because she lived by others’ rules her entire life. Drax realizes that he’s a father and that’s what he’s really good at — he’s not a destroyer. All those things, some more clearly than others, were in my mind from the first movie.Few Marvel series were as affected by the events of “Infinity War” and “Endgame” as “Guardians of the Galaxy.” How did you feel about having a lot of major plot points happen outside the films of your own trilogy?A lot? I think there was only one.Well, Gamora’s death is the big one, but even her first kiss with Quill comes in “Infinity War” after the first two “Guardians” movies appear to be building to it.I begged them to have that kiss in the movie, because it was necessary to really cement their relationship. I had a kiss in “Vol. 2” that I cut — it was awesome, but it came in a weird time. At the end of “Vol. 2,” you establish the fact that they have feelings for each other pretty distinctly, but in “Infinity War,” we needed to establish that they were now boyfriend-girlfriend and this was a normal thing for them. It wasn’t really about the kiss, it was about showing that they were now a couple.Was there ever an idea that Gamora would not come back in any form in “Vol. 3,” and Quill would have to deal with her absence?That was a possibility, yes. He would be dealing with her loss, but she wouldn’t come back and confront him in this different way. I toyed with it a lot as I was writing the script.In another sort of movie, the new Gamora would have fallen in love with Quill, too. Instead, Quill gets to know her and eventually realizes he has to let his love go.It’s something we do a lot in relationships anyway: We expect someone who reminds us of somebody from the past to be that somebody from the past. Especially with women, Peter Quill defines people around him to suit his own needs as opposed to really looking and seeing who they actually are as human beings. And Gamora is just not the same Gamora. She’s a different person.Zoe Saldaña as Gamora. The actress was clear that she didn’t want to return for more installments.Marvel Studios/DisneyThere are a few moments where it feels like you’re testing the chemistry between Quill and Nebula, which is intriguingly spiky. Did you ever think of going there with them?I never thought about fully going there, but do I think that Nebula, emotionally, is sort of that mean schoolgirl who’s not going to show her feelings to anybody. Karen thinks that Nebula has a little bit of a crush on Quill that she doesn’t quite know how to put together, and it makes sense because as we come to them in “Vol. 3,” we realize that they are the two leaders of the Guardians. I think it’s very normal in any close friendship to have some sort of occasional romantic or crush-like feelings.When you’re crafting all these character endings, how much do you have to factor in the actor’s willingness to continue in the role? For instance, Dave Bautista has been pretty vocal about saying he’s finished. Does that affect the way you wrap up Drax’s story as opposed to Quill’s, since Chris Pratt is open to continuing?Yeah, a little bit. Both Zoe and Dave have been very clear they’re not going to continue — likewise, me, actually. Chris is open to doing more stuff, although I think he has to be convinced. It does change some things: Like, I wouldn’t have had Dave in the post-credits scene. But I’m not sure if much would have changed beyond that.At what point in conceiving all of this did you know that you wanted to end this trilogy with a dance sequence set to “Dog Days Are Over” from Florence + the Machine? It’s a lot of responsibility to be the last music cue of such a song-laden franchise.I’ve known it for a few years. I’ve known it far before I started writing the script, since I was writing “Vol. 2.” I’ve been a fan of that album and that song since it came out, and it’s pretty cool because I just got an email from Florence Welch, who posted herself watching the movie and crying on TikTok yesterday. I think it’s probably the greatest pop song of the 21st century.In previous movies, you did the motion-capture dancing for Groot yourself. Did you also do it in the “Dog Days Are Over” scene?Yeah, and it was a high point in my life, really. My brother Sean is dancing for Rocket, and in the moment we were shooting the wide shot and dancing toward each other, it was surreal and beautiful and wonderful. We’ve been goofing around and playing with Fisher-Price characters since we were kids in our parents’ basement, and now we’re on the biggest set I’ve ever been on with gigantic Tinker Toys instead of smaller ones, but with that same purity and imagination we had as kids. Everybody was crying as it was happening. It was a really powerful moment.You directed all three films of this trilogy, which is a rarity at Marvel. Did you know from the beginning that you wanted to be at the helm throughout?Yes. Everyone knows I was gone for a while, then I came back, and the reason I came back — because, frankly, I might not have otherwise — is I needed to tell Rocket’s story. I couldn’t have that stuff inside of me and not express it. I have a strange connection to that character where I feel like he deserves everything. This is a story about a character who goes from being a little smuggling thief to becoming the leader of the greatest team the universe has ever known. And his back story, the pain of where he came from, all the seeds that I dropped from “Vol. 1” when Peter Quill sees the injuries on his back, all of those things were leading to something, and it just felt stunted to cut it off there. It felt like I was setting all of that up and not finishing it. That was a hard pill for me to swallow.Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper, became the heart of the story in “Vol. 3.” “I have a strange connection to that character where I feel like he deserves everything,” Gunn said.Marvel Studios/DisneyMost of these characters started the trilogy in a more selfish place, but few of them had further to go than Rocket.I was very, very careful through all the movies, including the “Avengers” movies and “Thor” and everything, that Rocket never does one single action that is for anyone other than himself or his friends. He’s not a hero like the rest of them. Morally, he’s much more stunted than Nebula is by the end of the “Avengers” series. He has just cut himself off completely from feeling for people, and at the end of “Vol. 3,” in that moment where he accepts himself by taking those raccoons and then starts looking around the cages, that’s the moment to me where he sees, “Oh my God, everything is me. We’re all a part of this universe, and every life has purpose, meaning, and is worthy of respect.” That’s who he is now: He’s not a bad guy, he’s strictly a good guy.So what does it mean to you that Rocket is the one in charge when this film ends, just as you’re coming into your own as the one in charge at DC? Did you have to go through your own journey to get to a place where you’d feel comfortable with that kind of responsibility?Oh, there’s no doubt that my journey is similar to Rocket’s. When it comes to those things I used to push other people away, accepting myself as I am, and accepting other people’s love, it’s been something that I’ve struggled with over the years and come to terms with much more than I have in the past.Now that you’ve managed to tell that story, what’s the overriding feeling? Is it satisfaction? Is it relief?Satisfaction, relief and just a real gentle pat on my back going, “OK, now we’ve got the next phase to work on, and I’m comfortable doing that.” Whatever Marvel does with those characters, I can’t wait. I hope they use them. I can’t wait to see another filmmaker take on the Guardians, and I hope that they do it in a way that they take ownership of the characters. But I feel good, I feel happy. Making the friendships that I made on this film series and having people in my life who are my closest allies — I mean, I’ve been to five weddings of the Guardians. I was at Chris’s wedding, Chris spoke at my wedding. Pom was one of Karen’s bridesmaids. It’s a great little group of people and I am really, really lucky. More

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      Will Poulter Is Just Getting Used to His Superhero Era

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      The once-gawky British actor buffed up to play Adam Warlock in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” But he says, in his head, he’s still 5-foot-4.Even when people don’t know Will Poulter’s name, they recognize his face. It helps that the 30-year-old Brit has been acting for half his life and has racked up an eclectic list of film credits, though he’s also blessed with a pair of distinctive eyebrows that are as curvy and expressive as a fleur-de-lis. They pull people in, even if those people aren’t always sure where to place the on-the-cusp actor.“To be honest,” Poulter said, “the bulk of my interactions are, ‘Do I know you from somewhere? Are you the guy from that thing? What have I seen you in?’”Often, this forces Poulter to cycle through a list of his projects until something clicks. Do they remember him as the shy dork who received kissing lessons from Jennifer Aniston in “We’re the Millers,” or the brash friend who meets a bad end in “Midsommar”? Or maybe they grew up on some of the YA franchises he co-starred in, like the “Maze Runner” series and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”?Poulter is a patient man, but his willingness to oblige a stranger can still lead to some awkward moments. “No one wants to be put in a position where you’re reciting your C.V.,” he said. Likening himself to a supporting character from “The Simpsons,” he added: “I often feel like I’m doing a Troy McClure impression: ‘You may know me from such things as…’”After this weekend, Poulter’s “where do you know me from” conversations will receive a cut-to-the-chase trump card: He’s joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the caped superhero Adam Warlock in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Described in the comic books as a genetically engineered perfect being, Poulter’s Warlock has glittery-gold skin and dangerous powers: Imagine an Oscar statuette that can shoot cosmic beams out of its hands, and you’re halfway there.Poulter as Adam Warlock in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Whether he returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe depends on fan reception.Jessica Miglio/MarvelIntroduced flying through outer space to the stirring guitar rock of Heart’s “Crazy on You,” Warlock is a significant figure in Marvel lore, though he’s still coming into his own when we meet him in the new “Guardians” film: Ejected from his birthing cocoon a bit too early, Warlock has a sense of right and wrong that is up for grabs, which gives Poulter several surprising beats to play as he butts heads with the Guardians and considers joining their side.“He brought life and reality to someone who is essentially a child in the body of an adult,” said the film’s writer-director, James Gunn, who picked Poulter over a wide field of hot Hollywood hopefuls. “And,” Gunn added, “he got yoked.”Ah yes, the great yokening. Though he was often cast as scrawny geeks earlier in his career, Poulter’s been through a recent, gym-aided glow-up: 6-foot-2 and Marvel-muscular with a thick head of blond hair, he has followed in the path of fellow British actors Nicholas Hoult and Dev Patel, who played realistically awkward teenagers onscreen before blossoming into Hollywood heartthrobs.Just a few years ago, Poulter was bullied on social media for his looks, but after his physical transformation, he’s been the subject of thirst tweets and internet-boyfriend articles. It’s enough to give a guy whiplash, and Poulter said he’s parsing the head trip.“It’s quite odd, because I’ve sort of formed my personality around looking a certain way,” he admitted. “Psychologically, I’m still 5-foot-4 because that’s what I was at school. Even being tall is something that I’m still getting used to!”Poulter is polite and humble without a trace of former-child-actor neediness. In early March, when I met him for strip-mall soul food in Los Angeles, he had gotten up early to watch an Arsenal soccer game and was eager to follow the match with a big bowl of jambalaya. “Will is completely easy, listens to everything, and is simultaneously very serious and game for anything,” Gunn said. “He’s down to earth and just plain fun to be around.”And though Gunn selected him to play a golden god, Poulter is too self-deprecating to let that kind of role go to his head.“I knew when I was cast that they were definitely going in a different direction than ‘perfect man,’” he told me, grinning.“Will is completely easy, listens to everything, and is simultaneously very serious and game for anything,” James Gunn said. Rosie Marks for The New York TimesTHOUGH IT CAN come with its own special baggage, Poulter has always considered acting to be a safe space. As a preteen growing up in Hammersmith, London, he would spend his entire school week looking forward to drama class on Friday morning, a place where he could kick off his shoes and explore creatively.When he was 12, his drama teachers encouraged him to audition for the charming indie comedy “Son of Rambow”; he landed the film’s breakout role on his first try and filmed it for eight weeks during his summer holiday. “For that to be my introduction to the film industry, I couldn’t have asked for a gentler, nicer, more wholesome experience,” he said. “It really lit the fire in me to want to do it again.”Poulter has worked steadily ever since — you may have also seen his supporting roles in prestige dramas like “The Revenant” and “Detroit” — while also navigating the unique challenge of growing up in the public eye. At 19, his role as awkward virgin Kenny in “We’re the Millers” elevated his profile but led to an uptick in jeers and catcalls from strangers; later, after playing a bespectacled computer-game designer in the 2018 “Black Mirror” episode “Bandersnatch,” some social-media users made such cutting comments about his looks that Poulter announced he’d be stepping back from Twitter to preserve his mental health.That’s why, now that the tide has turned toward appreciative tweets instead of cruel jokes, Poulter is skeptical about putting any stock into what social media has to say about him. “It shouldn’t inform how I treat myself, because I don’t know those people,” he said. “One of the dangers with social media is we can conflate things that exist online to the real world without even questioning it. We just carry the one and don’t really ask whether it actually adds up at the end of the day.”He smiled. “That’s a bad math analogy from someone who’s heavily dyslexic.”He’s seen tweets that compare pictures of his gawky character from “We’re the Millers” to his modern-day, muscular incarnation, as though they couldn’t possibly be the same person. “People are acting like I played Kenny Miller in 2013 and then woke up and now I look like I do, like there was some strange and mystical explanation behind it,” he said. “I just grew up, like every other human being on Earth.”But unlike Adam Warlock, who emerges from his birthing cocoon with a perfect physique, Poulter’s new look took time to attain: He began lifting weights at the start of the pandemic and found the regular fitness regimen did wonders for his mental health. A looming shirtless scene in the Michael Keaton-led limited series “Dopesick” spurred Poulter to step up his workouts, and by the time he began auditioning for “Guardians,” he had already reached the sort of shape that meant he could plausibly play a superhero.“If you want to do it in a way that’s safe and is entirely natural, you have to be prepared to spend a long period of time doing it,” Poulter said. “There’s no way that I could’ve got into the shape that I got had I not been working out for a number of years prior and built up foundations.”Though social-media posts now thirst for him, Poulter is skeptical: “It shouldn’t inform how I treat myself, because I don’t know those people.”Rosie Marks for The New York TimesIf people think his physical transformation happened overnight, Poulter worries they’ll believe he turned to enhanced means to attain it. “Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure out there on young people, both men and women, regarding body image,” Poulter said. “I’m being kind of careful in the words, but if you’re going to promote the process by which you achieved said body goal, I think you have to be fully transparent about how you got there.”Are other actors less than transparent about getting yoked? “Potentially,” Poulter demurred. “It’s not for me to say.”Still, even if Poulter took the long road to his Marvel musculature, he knows it hasn’t stopped people from speculating. “The rumor mill was mad,” he said. “My own mum was sending me something from someone being like, “Has Will had plastic surgery?’”Though Poulter tries to brush all that off, one viral clip still gnaws at him: On YouTube, a physical trainer analyzed a shirtless photo of Poulter from “Dopesick” and criticized his team on the assumption that they had trained him to diet in a certain way.“It’s got millions of views,” Poulter said. “Does it bug me that anyone might believe that, or think that I went about it in a different way that would contradict what I’m an advocate of? For sure. But I guess it’s about learning to relinquish your control over that sort of thing and just hope that there’s enough people who know what’s up.”As we finished lunch, Poulter chatted with our server; over the course of our meal, I had watched it dawn on her that she knew who he was. “You’re very funny,” she eventually told Poulter, who thanked her.We discussed his impending worldwide press tour for “Guardians,” though Poulter said he genuinely didn’t know whether Marvel had bigger plans for him beyond this film: “It kind of hinges on how people respond to the character,” he said. “If the fans don’t like Adam Warlock, obviously I’m going to be pretty gutted. My family’s opinion means a lot, but it’s not necessarily going to bring me back as the character.”But even if it proves to be a one-off, playing Warlock was a valuable experience, Poulter said. When he first started on the production, Gunn told him that he shouldn’t be afraid to screw up, even if those mistakes might make him feel self-conscious. For someone who struggles with how he can be perceived, that advice was scary but also freeing: It meant that he could take big swings and feel safe, and that he could learn to forgive himself when things didn’t go to plan.Those are the sort of realizations that keep Poulter enamored with acting even when so many other things about his chosen career can be tricky. “It can be stressful, it can be painful, and plainly speaking, it can be difficult to do and a strain on your mental health, but I also think it’s very necessary to reflect on your own psyche and think about its impact on the world around you,” Poulter said. “It’s a lovely psychoanalytical journey that I’m really enjoying.” More

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      Superman Is Driving DC Studios’ New Strategy

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      The yet-to-be-cast “Superman: Legacy” will begin a story that unfolds across at least 10 interconnected movies and TV shows, with Batman, Swamp Thing and others.Superman is returning to theaters — only now, along with saving the world, he has to prove that Warner Bros. has finally, without question, it means it this time, found a winning superhero strategy.DC Studios, a newly formed Warner division dedicated to superhero content, unveiled plans on Tuesday to reboot Superman onscreen for the first time in a generation, tentatively scheduling the yet-to-be-cast “Superman: Legacy” for release in theaters in July 2025. James Gunn, known for “Guardians of the Galaxy,” is writing the screenplay and may also direct the movie, which will focus on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.“He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old-fashioned,” said Peter Safran, chief executive of DC Studios, a title he shares with Mr. Gunn.Moreover, “Superman: Legacy” will begin a story that will unfold (Marvel style) across at least 10 interconnected movies and TV shows and include new versions of Batman, Robin, Supergirl, Swamp Thing and Green Lantern. Those marquee DC Comics characters will be joined by lesser-known personalities from the DC library, including Creature Commandos and Booster Gold, a time traveler. One of the shows will explore Themyscira, the mythical island home of Wonder Woman.The 10 projects will roll out over four to five years — at which time a second batch of related films and shows will be announced, expanding the “Superman: Legacy” saga to nearly a decade and perhaps helping David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, to keep a promise to Wall Street about growth.“Part of our strategy is drive the hell out of DC,” Mr. Zaslav said at an RBC Capital Markets event in November. Discovery took over Warner Bros. last year as part of a $43 billion merger.If it all comes to fruition, the “Superman: Legacy” universe of projects will add to a roster of unrelated superhero movies left over from a previous Warner Bros. administration. These movies, sequels all, include “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” “Joker: Folie à Deux” and “The Batman — Part II.”Warner Bros. bought DC Comics in 1969, and has since used DC characters to make more than 40 movies and at least 30 television shows, including cartoons. But the DC library has been widely viewed on Wall Street as underexploited because a competing comics-to-screens company, the Disney-owned Marvel, has provided an example of what is possible.Over the last 10 years, Marvel has been a blockbuster machine, delivering slates of interconnected superhero movies that have collected $23 billion at the global box office. Movies based on DC characters and released by Warner Bros. have generated about $9 billion over that period.Suffice it to say, Warner Bros., which invented the big-budget superhero movie in 1978 with “Superman,” has been under pressure to get its act together. In a restructuring in October, Mr. Zaslav ended the studio’s decentralized approach to superhero management — separate film and television divisions developed material independently, sometimes causing friction — and put Mr. Gunn and Mr. Safran in charge of superhero films, series and animated offerings.“The stakes are massive for us, and for Warner Bros. Discovery,” Mr. Safran said.Mr. Gunn called Warner’s old system “pretty messed up.”“Nobody was minding the mint,” he added. “They were just giving away I.P. like they were party favors to any creator who smiled at them.”Superhero movies remain reliably popular at the box office, but a glut of them has prompted worries that studios are wearing out the audience.“I think it’s real,” Mr. Gunn said, referring to superhero fatigue. “You have to make the stories diverse and different. Good guy, bad guy, giant thing in the sky, good guys win — you can’t tell that story again. You need to tell stories that are more, you know, morally complex.” More

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      After Decades of Hints, Scooby-Doo’s Velma Is Depicted as a Lesbian

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      The character has long been seen as a lesbian icon. Some fans were thrilled that her sexuality was at last officially acknowledged.A new movie has put to rest decades of fan speculation and suggestions from previous stewards of the “Scooby-Doo” franchise by confirming that Velma Dinkley, the cerebral mystery solver with the ever-present orange turtleneck, is canonically a lesbian.To many fans who had long presumed as much and treated her as a lesbian icon, it was not a shocking revelation. But her appearance in “Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!,” which was released on Tuesday on several digital services, was the first time the long-running franchise openly acknowledged her sexuality, thrilling some fans who were disappointed that it took so long.“Scooby-Doo,” created by Hanna-Barbera Productions, first appeared as a Saturday morning cartoon in 1969, and has been frequently reinvented in TV shows, films and comics. It generally follows a group of teenage sleuths, consisting of Velma, Daphne Blake, Fred Jones and Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, along with their mischievous Great Dane, Scooby-Doo.Previous “Scooby-Doo” writers and producers have said that Velma was a lesbian, but said pushback by studios would not allow them to depict her as one on screen. The new movie, which was directed by Audie Harrison, leaves no doubt as to her sexuality.In one scene of the newest iteration, a blushing Velma, voiced by Kate Micucci, is smitten at the sight of a new character, Coco Diablo, who mirrored Velma’s fashion sense with her own turtleneck and oversize glasses. In a later scene, she denies Coco is her type before admitting: “I’m crushing big time, Daphne. What do I do? What do I say?”It was the kind of overt reference to her sexuality that had failed to make it into final cuts before.Responding to a fan on Twitter, James Gunn, who wrote the screenplay for “Scooby-Doo,” a 2002 live-action film, wrote in 2020 that “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 wrote in the tweet, which was reported widely at the time and has since been deleted.That same year, Tony Cervone, the co-creator of “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated,” a 2010 series on Cartoon Network, posted an image on Instagram of Velma standing in front of a Pride flag.“We made our intentions as clear as we could ten years ago,” Mr. Cervone wrote. “Most of our fans got it. To those that didn’t, I suggest you look closer.”In response to a fan, he said specifically that “Velma in Mystery Incorporated is not bi. She’s gay,” according to a screenshot saved by Out Magazine.While most of the gang has had many romantic interests, notably between Fred and Daphne, Velma “has never really had a main love interest,” said Matthew Lippe, a 22-year-old marketing student who runs the Scooby Doo History account on Twitter.She had occasional flirtations and brief relationships, notably with Johnny Bravo in a ’90s cartoon crossover, but her romantic feelings were rarely as central to the story as other characters, Mr. Lippe said. When she dated Shaggy in “Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated,” he said, “it’s something that doesn’t feel natural for both of them.”More recently, the shows and movies have increasingly hinted at her interest in women, so “it’s not something that’s coming out of the blue,” he said. He said Velma is a fan favorite because she speaks to a common struggle: She’s the smart, awkward one who often leads the gang in the right direction but doesn’t get as much credit as the others.“A lot of young women, and a lot of people in general, could just look to her as a great example and role model to look up toward,” he said.Another change to Velma’s character is coming soon. In 2021, HBO Max ordered a spinoff adult animation series called “Velma.” Mindy Kaling will voice the character, who will be South Asian in the show.“Nobody ever complained about a talking dog solving mysteries,” Ms. Kaling told a crowd in May at a Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation, which offered a first look at the show, expected later this year. “So I don’t think they’ll be upset over a brown Velma.”Warner Bros., which owns the “Scooby-Doo” franchise, declined to comment.The rise of lesbian characters on television was a slow process, marked often by gimmicks and blatant plays for ratings. It often came in the form of “lesbian kiss episodes,” written largely to titillate rather than to explore genuine relationships.In recent decades, lesbian relationships on television have become more complex, even if the tropes aren’t entirely gone. More