Ben Affleck didn’t just become a Hollywood superstar overnight. The actor traveled a long road to get to the point where he had the pull to not just become Batman, but also potentially write and direct a stand-alone Batman movie as well. Let’s travel back through time and look through some of Ben Affleck’s lost roles, the ones you’re not going to see unless you dig deep into his IMDB profile or are at the end of a seriously stalkerish amount of Youtube searching.

Dark End Of The Street (1981)

Here’s a film that would be completely lost in the annals of film if it didn’t have the distinction of being Ben Affleck’s first movie role. Ben plays the little brother of Donna, a Boston teenager who witnesses the accidental death of a friend but decides not to report what she saw to the police. Affleck’s role amounts to little more than his character hanging out in the background of a few shots. Welcome to the movie biz, Ben!

The Voyage Of The Mimi (1984)

Ben’s first TV role was for an educational PBS show called The Voyage of the Mimi where he traveled the seven seas learning about humpback whales and whatever else the producers thought they could shoehorn into an episode. Think of it as a prequel to Popular Mechanics For Kids, with Affleck being the Elisha Cuthbert of the series.

ABC After School Specials – Wanted: The Perfect Guy (1986)

Here’s Batfleck as a child actor in an After School Special where he plays Danny Coleman, a boy who goes on a quest to find his mom a boyfriend that doesn’t suck.

A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story (1994)

HBO’s After School Specials rip-off Lifestories is a bit more stereotypical. Ben plays high school football star Aaron Henry, the poster child for 90s steroids abuse. Aaron spiraled down into the depths of steroid abuse until he tried to commit suicide by overdosing on Valium. Unfortunately, A Body To Die For documents the entire thing in unintentionally hilarious fashion, including the above Best Room Thrashing Scene In A Movie frontrunner. Even then, Ben Affleck was working at an award-winning level.

Field of Dreams (1989)

Though Ben Affleck doesn’t actually appear in the movie, he was on set as an extra during the Fenway Park scene along with his buddy Matt Damon. The movie was directed by Phil Alden Robinson, who also ended up directing Ben in The Sum Of All Fears. When Affleck showed up on set he told Robinson “Nice working with you again!” Robinson had no idea what the f**k Affleck was talking about.

Daddy (1991)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-fH6SoPpQ&feature=youtu.be&t=50s

1991 marked the beginning of Ben Affleck’s half-decade of playing varsity jocks and high school bullies. Here he is in the TV adaptation of Danielle Steel’s Daddy, where Patrick Duffy’s wife Kate Mulgrew (aka Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager and Red from OITNB) abandons the family, leaving him to raise Ben Affleck and his two other children alone until he remarries Suzzane Sommers, I assume.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992)

Here’s Affleck in an uncredited role as a basketball player in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Clearly, he doesn’t want any part of this goofball vampire guy on the court.

Against The Grain (1993)

Here’s a Ben Affleck project so obscure barely a scrap of it exists on the internet today. In 1993 NBC took a book by Buzz Bissinger called “Friday Night Lights” and decided to turn it into a show called Against The Grain. Alas, it didn’t manage to capture the imagination of America like the movie with Billy Bob Thornton (Affleck’s Armageddon co-star) movie or NBC’s second attempt at a TV adaptation led by Coach Taylor (Affleck’s Argo co-star Kyle Chandler). So this version where Affleck plays the coach’s son AND the team’s star player lounges in obscurity, not even worthy of room in some hidden corner of Hulu.

The Third Wheel (2002)

Also known as “That movie where Ben Affleck has sex with Melissa McCarthy on his motorcycle.” The actual plot? It involves Luke Wilson hitting a homeless man with his car while on a date with his long lusted-after co-worker, as played by Denise Richards. Matt Damon also pops in with a cameo.