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

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."