While the DCEU is still fairly new, DC Comics has a long tradition of bringing their popular characters to the screen. Now, it appears the next film in the franchise will pay homage to one of the first. One eagle-eyed DC fan got a look at a recent promotional picture of Ezra Miller as Barry Allen and realized that the actor's wardrobe looked familiar. Miller's look appears to be an intentional reference to that of the young Clark Kent as seen in Superman: The Movie, back in 1978. Check it out.
Ezra Miller is wearing a black and red checkered overcoat which looks identical to the one worn by actor Jeff East in the movie that first brought Superman to the big screen. In addition to the coat being an exact replica. Both actors are wearing gray beneath it, though the young Clark Kent is wearing a shirt, while Barry Allen has donned a hoodie. It's a remarkable coincidence. So much so, that we tend to agree with thegeekofsteel that it's almost certainly intentional.
Of course, the Justice League movie had to put the outfit on a different character because as things stand now, the superhero team is short a Superman. While the character's return is just about the worst kept secret in movies, we do expect that a good portion of Justice League will go by without Clark Kent, and there hasn't been a previous Flash movie for Ezra Miller to reference.
One reason to believe the callback is done on purpose is that this isn't the first time the DCEU has referenced their predecessors. Previously, the Wonder Woman movie included a scene of Diana saving Steve Trevor from a bullet which was done to gender flip a similar sequence in Superman: The Movie. For many superhero movie fans, Christopher Reeve's turn as the Man of Steel is still the gold standard of the role. While the current DC universe is clearly going in a different direction from those films, it's nice to see them acknowledge where they came from.
If you're the sort who likes to search movies for easter eggs and references, then it looks like Justice League might be an amazing film for that. This reference is a fairly deep cut. I've seen Superman: The Movie more times than I can count and I never would have picked up on this. If this is the sort of reference we can expect, then it might take some truly obsessive DC fans to catch everything Justice League has to offer.
We'll get a chance to look for all the references when Justice League finally arrives in theaters. As the image says, we only have about two more months to wait.
