Jeremy Renner told Marvel bosses to fire him if they couldn't give him more time off with his daughter.

Jeremy Renner puts his daughter first

Jeremy Renner puts his daughter first

The 50-year-old actor - who has portrayed Clint Barton/ Hawkeye in the comic book movies since 2011's 'Thor' - spent 18 months commuting from London to Los Angeles for weekend visits after ex-wife Sonni Pacheo gave birth to their daughter Ava in 2013 and admitted things got "pretty gnarly" when he wanted to prioritise his family over his work.

Jeremy - who sometimes only saw Ava for a few hours before flying back to set - told Men's Health magazine: "It taught me how to have the nuts to say, 'Everyone, f*** off. It's my time with my daughter.' "

The publication noted people warned Jeremy "that Marvel might fire him".

He added: "I said, 'Fine, recast me. I'm going to be here with my daughter.' It was pretty gnarly."

And now, whenever the 'Wind River' star - who has been in an acrimonious dispute with Sonni since they split in December 2014 - signs up for a new project, he makes sure time off at weekends to be with his daughter is written into his contract.

He noted: Acting and everything else goes out the window until my daughter says, 'I want to hang out with my friends, and I don't want to be around you so much, Daddy.' "

Jeremy will reprise his role in the new Disney+ series 'Hawkeye' and he admitted he felt very protective of his 24-year-old co-star Hailee Steinfeld, who portrays self-proclaimed "world's greatest archer", Kate Bishop.

He previously said: "That was always my role. Outside of acting in the thing, I was protecting her and giving her the CliffsNotes on how it goes with this kind of filmmaking: Green screen, superhero life, all that stuff.

"I just wanted to protect her, because there's a lot of physical stuff. She's a wonderful actress, a wonderful human, and I can't wait to see all the cool stuff that she's able to do."