Iron Man Stunt Goes Wrong: Promotion Makes Theatergoers Think Theater is Under Attack

An Iron Man stunt went wrong after theatergoers at a Missouri movie theater thought they were under attack.

As part of a promotion for" Iron Man 3" at the Goodrich Capital 8 theatre in Jefferson City, several actors dressed up as members of the fictional S.H.I.E.L.D, the agency featured in Marvel's "Iron Man" and Avengers" movies, Yahoo reports.

While the promotion was supposed to be a fun stunt, it sent theatergoers into a panic as they thought the characters were gunmen with assault weapons in the theater. Several people called the police thinking that a shooting was going happen, much like the shooting that took place in Aurora, Colorado when James Holmes opened fire at a late-night premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" last summer. Holmes killed 12 people and injured 58 others in that incident.

Theatergoers thought a shooting was occurring in this incident. Police arrived thinking that they were walking into an active shooter situation.

"We had just finished watching 'Iron Man 3'. We're just getting into the car when I spotted a man in full assault gear, carrying what appeared to be a modified M-4 and 9 mm on his side," John Morlock, a US Army veteran, told ABC 17 News.

"We received a series of 911 calls stating that a man dressed in all black and body armor and a rifle was walking into Capital 8 Theaters," said Captain Doug Shoemaker from the Jefferson City Police Department. "Everything was in place, it's the opening night of a superhero movie, it's somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen. There's really no good that can come of this."

Theater manager Bob Wiklins apologized to theatergoers for not warning them about the promotion following the film.

"We apologize and are sympathetic to those who felt they were in harm's way with our character promotion for 'Iron Man 3'," he said in a statement.

"This was not a publicity stunt. We have worked with the Cosplacon group on many movies to dress up and help entertain our customers. We have had many complaints about the members dressed specifically as S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives carrying fake guns.

"We didn't clearly tell our customers and some people didn't realize it was for entertainment purposes only. We apologize that police were called to come out to our theater. We have a wonderful working relationship with the Jefferson City Police Department.

"Going forward we will take the necessary steps to make sure this doesn't happen again. Security and safety for our customers is our number one priority."

Wilkins had no regrets about the stunt and said he would do it again, but would take some precautions.