The first installment in the DCEU, 2013's Man of Steel, featured Whitney, an original character from the first season of Smallville. The show, which focused on Clark Kent's journey to becoming Superman, featured a long list of characters from the comic books, but also added several original characters to the Superman mythos, such as Lionel Luthor (John Glover), Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles), and Whitney Fordman (Eric Johnson).
Introduced in the pilot episode of Smallville, Whitney Fordman was the boyfriend of Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) and the star quarterback of the high school football team in season 1. For most of the season, Whitney took a strong disliking to Clark (Tom Welling), feeling that he was a rival for Lana's affections. However, Whitney, unaware of Lana's growing feelings for Clark, eventually got over his problems. In the Smallville season 1 finale, Whitney joined the Marines, and shortly after, Lana decided to break up with him; Whitney later returned to Smallville, but this person turned out to be an impostor. It was revealed that the real Whitney was killed in action early in Smallville season 2.
Man of Steel used their own version of Whitney when exploring the early years of Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) and his time in Smallville. Unsurprisingly, this portion of the movie incorporated comic characters associated with Superman's childhood, including Pete Ross (Jack Foley) and Lana Lang (Jadin Gould). One unexpected addition to this part of the film was Whitney Fordham, played by Robert Gerdisch. The character had a slight change to his last name that was confirmed when Lana's mother later referred to him as "the Fordham boy". In what appeared to be another homage to Smallville's Whitney, the Man of Steel version (and the other boys on the school's football team) wore red and yellow jackets. Whitney's red and yellow letterman jacket was part of his look in season 1.
Whitney was present when young Clark (Dylan Sprayberry) saved the school bus. Like Lana and Pete, Whitney was a witness to Clark using his powers. He was also one of the boys in the scene where Clark was being bullied by an older student. Though both Lana and Pete did have other appearances, this was the last time Whitney was seen in Man of Steel and the DC Extended Universe.
Whitney's inclusion in Man of Steel is interesting, because while Lana and Pete were also in Smallville, of the three of them, only Whitney is a Smallville original character. Having Whitney in the movie, despite the fact that he had very little screen time, still amounts to a fun nod to the beloved Superman prequel series. The Arrowverse TV series, Supergirl, did something similar when it dropped a reference to Chloe. The idea that other Superman properties are incorporating Smallville's changes and additions to Superman's origin story is a sign of recognition of the show's importance to Superman lore.