The Strangers consisted of a group of random passengers on a cable car who were struck by what they believed to be a bolt of lightning, but was actually a "jumpstart": one of the bursts of energy emitted by the Entity from the Moon, which transformed them into "Ultras".

This accident causes Johnny to no longer need sleep and to develop the ability to hear evil thoughts, which led to his becoming the Ultra-Hero, Night Man.

The Strangers joined Hardcase and other ultraheroes in a fight against the minions of the villain Rex Mundi's, who tried to captured Amber Hunt, who was acting like a herald for the madness.

Alongside other ultraheroes, they protect the Entity, a crashed alien starship that was causing the Jumpstart Effect, from attack from Mundi's minions.

The team helps Hardcase and his partner Choice invade the Groom Lake facility of the mysterious organization known as Aladdin.

Hunt's son, knowing the Strangers held his father prisoner, visits the hero's headquarters, temporarily located at Labrava Fashions, on Pier 25.

Spectral's mechanically talented friend Mike adjusts Electrocute's systems, preventing them from being overridden in the same manner again.

Frustrated that he is unable to use his powers effectively and corrupted by demonic magic, Atom Bob ends up a villain, while Night Man exposes him.

[13][14] This version from Englehart would've featured a group of popular Ultraverse heroes waking up in the main Marvel Comics Universe.

The lineup would have consisted of Hardcase, Mantra, Prime, Sludge, Rune, Lord Pumpkin, Lady Killer, Night Man, Rhiannon, and Atom Bob.

[15] In June 2005, when asked by Newsarama whether Marvel had any plans to revive the Ultraverse (including the Strangers), Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada replied that: Let's just say that I wanted to bring these characters back in a very big way, but the way that the deal was initially structured, it's next to impossible to go back and publish these books.There are rumors out there that it has to do with a certain percentage of sales that has to be doled out to the creative teams.

While this is a logistical nightmare because of the way the initial deal was structured, it's not the reason why we have chosen not to go near these characters, there is a bigger one, but I really don't feel like it's my place to make that dirty laundry public.

According to Steve Englehart, via his personal website, this was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for a Strangers animated series, but plans were cancelled following Marvel's purchase of Malibu.