Iron Man Stunt Goes Wrong As Publicity Stunt Surrounding "Iron Man 3" Brings Police To Missouri Theatre Opening [Video]

An "Iron Man" stunt goes wrong as police respond to a Missouri theater threat during the premiere of "Iron Man 3" after reports of a man carrying an assault weapon into the theater turned out just to be a publicity stunt.

Armed police stormed Goodrich Capital 8 theatre in Jefferson City, MO in search of the reported gunman who had walked into the theatre carrying an assault rifle.

But it was a promotion for the premiere of "Iron Man 3" and the Iron Man stunt was met with alarm from theater-goers.

The Iron Man stunt went wrong after the management of the theatre had actors dress up as members of the fictional S.H.I.E.L.D team from the Marvel Universe who play a prominent role in the three Iron Man movies.

The Iron Man stunt goes wrong after theatre patrons called the police to alert them of a man wielding an assault rifle, when he was really just an actor dressed up as a member of the S.H.I.E.L.D team. The Iron Man stunt goes wrong, since movie-goers were thinking it might be a repeat of the Aurora, Colorado massacre during the premiere weekend of "The Dark Knight Rises" when a lone gunman shot die movie-goers as they watched the premiere of the last Christopher Nolan batman movie. 

The Iron Man stunt goes wrong after those present at the premiere mistook the theatre's promotion for another armed gunman and called 911 to report an "armed man in body armor."

Jefferson City Police Captain, Doug Shoemaker, said "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."

Shoemaker warned that the Iron Man stunt gone wrong could have turned even uglier if they would "have engaged the actors," in armed retaliation without realizing they were actors hired by the theatre.

Managment of the theatre claims that the Iron Man stunt had been months in the planning for the weekend premiere of "Iron Man 3," and that the majority of moviegoers were entertained by the fake S.H.I.E.L.D team.

But the theatre did release an apology after the Iron Man stunt went wrong, writing:

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