Marvel star Cobie Smulders is finally a superhero with powers in ‘Super Team Canada’

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TORONTO — When Cobie Smulders began working on “Super Team Canada” two years ago, she didn’t expect the goofy cartoon to align so perfectly with the current political landscape.

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Billed as Crave’s first adult animated series, the half-hour comedy follows six overlooked Canadian superheroes who are called into action after the world’s top heroes are taken out. In the premiere, the U.S. president and other global leaders laugh at the Canadian prime minister’s claim that his country has caped crusaders of its own.

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The plot now plays like a cheeky metaphor for Canada pushing back against U.S. economic attacks and “51st state” jabs from U.S. President Donald Trump.

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“It is funny timing,” Vancouver-born Smulders says while in Toronto last week.

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“For me, I’ve always had a very strong sense of Canadian pride in my life. I live in the United States right now, but my heart is still in Vancouver,” adds the L.A.-based actor.

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“(The show) is sort of like this love letter to Canadiana and our culture and poking fun at our culture. It’s really just there to entertain and to make people laugh, which I think we could all use right now.”

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The series is stacked with Canadian talent, including Calgary screenwriters Joel H. Cohen of “The Simpsons” and Robert Cohen of “The Ben Stiller Show,” with Toronto film and TV star Will Arnett starring and producing.

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Smulders voices a hydro-powered superhero called Niagara Falls. She cracks that it’s a new experience for her, alluding to her decade-long stint as the mortal S.H.I.E.L.D agent Maria Hill in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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“I’m finally a superhero with superpowers, which is exciting,” says Smulders, whose Marvel character largely works behind the scenes to co-ordinate the Avengers’ missions.

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Arnett plays puck-slinging ex-hockey player Breakaway, comedian Charles Demers is Quebecois crimefighter Poutine and Kids in the Hall member Kevin McDonald is the Prime Minister of Canada.

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Together, they take on various foes, including giant evil robots, “geriatric aliens and a trash pile,” says Smulders, who shot to stardom in the mid-aughts as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”

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The actor says it’s “wonderful” to see Canadians feeling more patriotic amid tense relations with the United States.

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“Our country has so much to offer and I’m grateful that I grew up here. It has shaped and moulded me as a person, so I have only ever felt pride for my country,” she says.

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“I guess the good thing that’s coming out of this time is that other people are too. They’re feeling that even more now.”

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Smulders says her national pride is why she gravitates towards Canadian projects, including Nova Scotia director Jason Buxton’s thriller “Sharp Corner,” currently in theatres. She stars as a therapist whose life unravels as her husband, played by Ben Foster, becomes obsessed with the frequent car accidents at a tight turn near their home.