The three main stars of the 'Fast & Furious' movie franchise may be physically big men, but it appears that their egos are incredibly fragile.

A report in the Wall Street Journal says that Vin Diesel, Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson go to great lengths to ensure that their fellow actors don't come across any tougher than they do.

It began when Diesel realised during the filming of the seventh movie that Statham was landing more punches than he was. His initial idea was to have a 'hit count', where a scoring system ranked how many punches, kicks or body blows each actor was allowed.

However, when this became unrealistic, he and his co-stars still insisted that the fight sequences be choreographed so that neither looks any less macho than the other.

The WSJ report that Statham negotiated "an agreement with the studio that limits how badly he can be beaten up on screen". Diesel, they say, has his producer sister keep a tally of many times he's punched, while Johnson "enlists producers, editors and fight coordinators to help make sure he always gives as good as he gets".

While all three declined to comment, a Universal spokesperson said that the fight sequences mean that “every character has their moment, and that all are seen as formidable opponents. Each ‘Fast’ character is a hero to someone watching, and we never forget that.”

We reckon that 'hero' status has become a little tarnished after this ridiculous news.