In the current DCU, how much should they remember of their past incarnations?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Obviously, Scott Snyder's idea that, post-Death Metal, everyone would remember everything of their past history hasn't actually been put into practice because no one really understood what that actually meant. Instead, it's ended up that creators are now more free to reference a lot more stories that were previously off-limits.

That said, I still think the residents of the current DCU are more aware of how much their lives have been mucked with my various Multiversal time shenanigans than at any prior point in DC history. For the vast majority of people, it's made absolutely no difference in their lives. Their lives are exactly the same as they were before the time shenanigans as they were after them. In other words, they have no past incarnations to remember so it makes no difference to them whether or not there are or have been other versions of themselves existing somewhere out there in the Multiverse.

For those in the metahuman community, I think it's importance and impact varies wildly.

Superman, for instance, is pretty much used to the crazy events of his larger than life existence in which 5th dimensional imps and cosmic beings endlessly mess with him and his family and being split in two (whether red/blue or young & single/married with a kid). Being lost in time or meeting various alternate versions of himself is so commonplace for him, Lois & Jon by this point, I think they all take it all in stride. They remember all their past incarnations, but they simply view it the way we view old vacations or bad jobs we worked for a few months or years, then moved on from. I'm sure Clark is well aware that Ma & Pa have died at various points in his past lives, too. However, I don't think the Kents are necessarily aware of that fact, nor would Clark ever tell them.

Batman is similar in the sense that he's fully aware of all the myriad changes to his history in regards to his formative years, but he views it as unimportant to his present. His Uncle Phillip may have raised him in one version of his life, but his memories of being raised by Alfred are the ones that supersede those because Alfred is the man he considers to be his father.

Wonder Woman is the one who unleashed all of these memories upon the DCU, so she's absolutely aware of everything that transpired in her past lives. The real question is how they're going to handle Steve Trevor moving forward. Was he around in the 1940s and died, only to be resurrected in the present? Or is the modern day Steve a descendant of that guy? I have no idea how they're planning on unravelling all that.

The Flash family is also at the heart of all these Multiversal events thanks to Barry Allen & Wally West being so pivotal in shaping the current DCU. The changes made to their lives by the altering of history is part of their own journeys towards becoming the heroes they are today. I think they remember it all.

The Green Lanterns were, up until a few months ago, run by billions year old immortals fully aware of and sometimes responsible for the changes within the Multiverse. While not every GL is fully briefed on this stuff, it's a foregone conclusion that Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner's past histories as cosmic beings had made them privy to all these events even before Death Metal let everyone else in on the deal.

Aquaman & Mera are a trickier matter. I honestly don't think they're aware of their first son's death, but it's a subconscious choice on their parts. Much like the Kents' various deaths, I don't think anyone will be reminding Arthur or Mera about it either. It's a past event that has thankfully been wiped away by the revisions in history and it'll likely never be brought up again...or at least until their new daughter is grown up.

Green Arrow & Black Canary already discussed this in Infinite Frontier #0. They remember their past lives, but those memories are fading and unimportant to their present now that they've found each other again. And much like the death of Arthur Jr., Ollie's history of cheating on Dinah will be forgotten and never brought up again.

The Teen Titans seem to have all their memories back and Cyborg has decided that he'd much rather spend time with his friends at Titans Tower than pull monitor duty at the Watchtower. I'm sure he and everyone else remembers him being a remember of the League, but he was a Titan first and foremost.

Billy Batson and his family are a little less clear. Due to the requirements of keeping them forever as kids, they kind of have to be rebooted periodically, otherwise there's no plausible justification for them not getting older. The wizard Shazam, however, is clearly aware of all their previous incarnations (and his own). I've long suspected that the wizard is the one responsible for Billy & company's perpetual adolescence, as he wisely believes that his champion always needs to stay a child at heart.

What do you guys think?