Why Barry Allen's Dad From Zack Snyder's Justice League Looks So Familiar

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Contains mild spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League

Zack Snyder's Justice League, the newest and buzziest release from HBO Max, has an all-star cast comprised of Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, and Jason Momoa. The supporting cast is also top-notch with appearances from Academy Award nominees including J.K. Simmons, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Amy Adams, Willem Dafoe, and Diane Lane. Every scene was packed with a famous face with decades of experience in Hollywood.

One such of those instances was the prison visitation scene between Barry Allen, aka the Flash (Miller), and his father, Henry Allen. Henry is only in the four-four film for just a few minutes in two short scenes between him and his son. It might not have been enough time for many to figure out where they've seen the imprisoned father before, but movie buffs probably recognized that famous face from the get-go. Billy Crudup has had a career in Hollywood that spans over two decades. His acting credits are all over the map, with no role too much for him to handle. He's starred in cult classics, action thrillers, and dramedies, while also breaking out into the world of streaming service originals.

Still trying to figure out where you know him from? Let's take a stroll down Billy Crudup lane.

In Billy Crudup's breakout role, he portrayed Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist of the fictional band Stillwater in 2000's critically acclaimed flick Almost Famous. The movie, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, follows the rock band as they tour the country while being studied — in a sense — by teenage journalist William Miller (Patrick Fugit) who is covering them for Rolling Stone. Crudup's Hammond is the cool guy — an enigmatic talent who outshines his band counterparts on stage. Hammond is that charming dismissive dude who screws people over from time to time, but you just can't seem to not like him. Crudup was perfect in the role, which was originally revealed to have been written for Brad Pitt, according to director Cameron Crowe (via Radio.com). Imagining anyone else playing Hammond is impossible, as Crudup's performance was without flaw.

Of course, his legacy in the film will live on forever with Hammond's most famous line —"I AM A GOLDEN GOD!"

In the early to mid-2000s, Billy Crudup was on a roll, landing parts in some of the decades biggest films. Starring alongside Ewan McGregor in 2003's fantasy drama Big Fish, Crudup played Will Bloom, the son of passionate storyteller Edward Bloom (McGregor). Will has a strained relationship with his father, as he feels most of his life stories are made up of lies. The film follows these fantasy stories, which Will realizes just before his father's death were actually based on true events.

In 2006, Crudup joined the cast of Mission: Impossible 3 which saw Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) getting dragged back into the dangerous world of the IMF. Crudup played IMF Assistant Director John Musgrave, who appears to be a good guy assisting Ethan along the way. Eventually, it's revealed that Musgrave is working with the movie's big bad, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), but he ultimately meets his end at the hands of Ethan's wife, Julia (Michele Monaghan).

Another 2006 hit for Crudup was The Good Shepherd, led by Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, and Robert De Niro, which detailed the beginnings of counter-intelligence at the CIA. Crudup played Archibald "Arch" Cummings, a Special Operations Executive based on real-life Kim Philby, a double agent for the Soviet Union and British Intelligence officer.

In 2009, Billy Crudup worked with Zack Snyder for the first time in Watchmen, a visionary masterpiece and retelling of the 1980s comic book of the same name. In what is now a cult classic, Crudup portrayed Doctor Manhattan a.k.a. Jon Osterman, a scientist who received his superhuman powers from a nuclear experiment gone wrong. It was quite the role for Crudup, who had to play two versions of the character and spent a good amount of time on set wearing a suit covered in blue lights. Snyder used a fitness model as the inspiration for Doctor Manhattan's body, and CGI'ed Crudup's head onto it, according to Popular Mechanics.

His second film of the year was Public Enemies, which was led by Johnny Depp as real-life gangster John Dillinger and Christian Bale as Melvin Puris, the FBI Special Agent charged with bringing the criminal in. Crudup played J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI who specifically put Purvis on task to take down Dillinger.

In 2010, Billy took on a role opposite of Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love, playing her ex-husband Steven Gilbert. Roberts' Elizabeth Gilbert is at a crossroads in her life and finds herself wanting more, while Steven seems to have no idea she feels this way. Realizing they are at two different places, and Elizabeth needing more, the two divorce before she heads out on a two-year international journey.

Crudup also joined the stellar cast of 2015's Spotlight, the Academy Award-winning film which followed The Boston Globe's team of the same name, dedicated to exposing child sex abuse in the area by Roman Catholic priests. The actor portrayed Eric MacLeish, an attorney who defended the victims of the horrible abuse. The performances from the entire cast were incredible, earning them the Critic's Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble, per Variety.

In 2017, Crudup dabbled with the sci-fi genre in Alien: Covenant, the sequel to Prometheus and an extension of the Alien universe. Playing First Mate Christopher Oram of the ship Covenant, Crudup met his demise in true Alien fashion, by having a xenomorph burst through his chest, killing him instantaneously.

In 2019, Billy Crudup joined the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carrell, and Mark Duplass on Apple TV+'s The Morning Show. The show has received rave reviews, mostly for its performances, with Crudup's being a true highlight. The veteran actor plays Cory Ellison, an executive for the New York-based UBA Network, on which the titular show-within-a-show airs. Cory is extremely good at his job and is very calculating when it comes to The Morning Show's operations. Crudup's portrayal of Cory was so spectacular, that he was awarded a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, as well as a Critic's Choice Award for Supporting Actor in 2020.

Vanity Fair called Crudup "the straw that stirs the drink" on the popular series, as his character's constant meddling provides the driving force for the drama on show. Crudup said he enjoyed playing someone so different from all the others he's played in the past. "One of the wonderful things for me about playing Cory was, they said there is no mandate for this guy to be cool," Crudup said. "I've played characters who are supposed to be really cool or are supposed to be really together."