Everyone in the Marvel universe has been part of a team at some point. Few teams have been as all-encompassing as the Fifty State Initiative that grew out of the massive Civil War saga. The side pushing for superhero registration won out, and as a result, heroes everywhere signed up and became part of a S.H.I.E.L.D. sponsored team in their respective state.
The program drew in thousands of different heroes, from well-known to obscure. Let's take a look at ten of the most powerful recruits into the Fifty State Initiative.
10 Texas Twister
Representing the great state of Texas, Texas Twister has been around since the 70s. He joins the Initiative as part of the Texas-based team called The Rangers. Twister packs quite a punch: he accelerates air particles to tornado speeds (over two hundred miles an hour!) which is nothing you want to be standing around for. Drew Daniels survives his own wind shearing power by being super durable, super quick and super perceptive: he has enhanced eyesight to allow him to see through the dust he kicks up.
9 She-Thing
A member of the New Mexico based Mavericks, Sharon Ventura, the She-Thing, has a long, difficult history in the comics. She started off as a wrestler, inspired by Ben Grimm, the Thing. That ultimately led her to join the Fantastic Four and being exposed to the same radiation that transformed him into a walking pile of rubble. She struggled mightily with her transformation, seeking ways to reverse it and even going so far as to consider betraying the team to Doctor Doom. In the end, she didn't, but it hasn't been so great since. She's even been impersonated by a Skrull.
8 Cloud 9
Cloud 9 is the airborne division of the Montana-based Initiative team Freedom Force. Abby Bolen generates a cloud-like substance (which was probably never embarrassing) that allows her to fly. What sets her apart from the usual flyers is she can use this substance in an offensive manner - literally. Mess with her and you get two lungs full of stuff that makes it hard to breathe and oh, yeah. Now you're flying. War Machine recruits her into the program after he spots her hot rodding on a cloud.
7 Big Bertha
Laugh at Big Bertha at your own risk. A member of the Great Lakes Champions (and most recently the Great Lakes Avengers) Big Bertha manipulates her body mass to such an extreme degree that she grows in size, strength, and durability.
She can leap great distances, a bit like the Hulk, and it's probably not the best thing when she lands. It's not all fun for her either. Ashley Crawford gets back to her normal size and weight by vomiting out her excess - mass - and at least she doesn't have a lot of hair to hold back.
6 Justice
A telekinetic powerhouse, Vance Astrovix has one of the most complicated histories in all of the Marvel Universe. His future self, Vance Astro, once traveled back in time to stop his younger self from becoming an astronaut and ending up in deep freeze for millennia. While Vance was successful, he didn't really have a firm grasp on the theory of quantum mechanics and created a new timeline. In that timeline, Justice used his power to get engaged to Firestar, drop her, mess around with Ultragirl and be at the center of a lot of drama. A lot of drama.
5 Gravity
Gravity leads the Nevada-based team, the Heavy Hitters. The name isn't just for show. Among its members are the heroes Hardball, Prodigy, Nonstop, Telemetry, and Outback. Gravity displays natural leadership skills and some pretty impressive powers of his own. Gravity manipulates the gravitons around him, and consequently, gravity itself. He can make himself lighter, which lets him fly, or heavier, which makes him much more durable and of course stronger. He can do the same to others and generally does so with a smile, which makes sense. His character was inspired by the college-age Peter Parker that Marvel at one time was eager to get away from.
4 Armory
Violet Lightner served on Freedom Force alongside Cloud 9. Her power was gifted to her by a powerful alien device called the Tactigon. The Tactigon was in effect an interdimensional mystery box. Every time she opened it, there was something else inside. Could be lasers. Laser swords. Laser shields. Lots of lasers. Armory eventually left the Initiative after she had the Tactigon surgically removed from her arm. Violet battled a lot of personal demons and the alien gun fused to her arm didn't exactly help.
3 Ultragirl
A mutant - but half Kree - Tsu Zanna joins the Calvary, based out of Georgia. Suzanna Sherman thinks she's an ordinary girl (who's a supermodel) but then nope, she's a superhero.
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Her Kree heritage gives her all their manifest abilities, which include superhuman strength, stamina, reflexes, and speed. She also has a healing factor that limits even further the amount of damage she can sustain. Ultragirl went by Ms. Marvel for a time, but for the moment, she remains Ultragirl.
2 Firebird
Another member of the Texas-based Rangers, Bonita Juarez gained her powers after a meteorite fused with the waste of an alien scientific experiment (dispose of everything properly folks) crashed on Earth. She became pyrokinetic, able to spontaneously combust molecules. This really sucks if you're a bad guy or just someone who rubs her the wrong way.
But generally, Firebird uses her powers to fly (looking very Phoenix-like as she does) and to shoot energy beams (again with the Phoenix). Firebird can also see the future somewhat and is resistant to most telepathic forms of attack.
1 Thor Girl
Thor Girl joins the first class of recruits for the Initiative after the implementation of the program. Tarene Olson began life as the prophesied Designate, a being who would evolve others to higher states of well, being, but she ultimately decided to emulate friend and ally Thor. As a result, she possessed the powers of a god-like Asgardian.
Like Thor, she's strong, nigh-invulnerable and effectively immortal. She also carries around a hammer of her own, but so far hasn't been shown to be able to lift Mjolnir.