Originally Posted by
Zeeguy91
Well, I guess this thread, like everything, has officially gone off the tracks.
(1) You're starting with a very inverted assumption in my opinion. Instead of asking why we should keep it, tell me why, if writers can come on and tell good stories regardless, we should get rid of it? That's an especially important question given it also means pissing off a majority of the fanbase. The former actually requires DC to affirmatively erase the continuity. The latter wouldn't require anything of them, just to keep things the same.
(2) And to answer your question: Well aside from the fact that that's just how all forms of literature from novels to movies to TV shows to plays have always operated since forever, the past history of a character is always playing a part in that character's present stories because (a) that's how they all arrived at their status quo as current in the books to begin with and (b) (related to (a)) that history is what contains the defining aspects of the character.
For example, as to (a), anyone who has picked up a Superman comic in recent history knows that Lois and Clark are married, and that she is full and well aware of his identity as Superman. In fact, that has pretty much been a staple of Superman comics for about 20 years. So, how did they get there? After all, when Superman comics first came out, Lois had no idea that Superman and Clark were one and the same. Well, that's because DC, in the 80s and 90s, published a series of Superman comics, and in the course of those stories, Clark and Lois began dating, Clark revealed his identity to Lois, and they got married. That's how they arrived at their present (and some might even say iconic) status quo. So, erasing those stories from the history of the DCU has the effect of irrevocably altering what many would say is the iconic status quo of Superman's life and verily piss off everybody who ever invested in those Superman comics.
For another example of this, let's look at the Fantastic Four. Its no shocker that the iconic status quo of Reed and Sue Richards is that they are a married couple with kids. However, they weren't always. In fact, they didn't get married until about 4 years after first debuting. Their son Franklin didn't debut until 1968. And then their daughter, Valeria, didn't come along until 1999. Franklin and Valeria, even if they weren't there at the beginning, are now huge parts of the status quo of the Fantastic Four, as a team and as a family. So, if Marvel were to erase them from MU continuity, it again, would piss off pretty much everybody who's read Fantastic Four comics over the past 50 years, because those developments were what helped the FF arrive at their current status.
Now, as to (b), its somewhat related to (a), in that those developments that take place over the years are in fact what helps contribute to characters' images and their defining aspects. So, for example, we all know that Joker is Batman's archenemy...but what MAKES him worthy of that status?? The answer is: all the stuff that he's done to Batman and the Bat-family over the years––shooting and paralyzing Barbara Gordon, beating Jason Todd to death, shooting and killing Sarah Essen (Jim Gordon's wife), etc. So, if you were to erase those accomplishments from continuity, the Joker goes from being an iconic super villain to being just some guy in a clown get up who hasn't done anything of note. Likewise, who the hell is this Bane guy and why should I care about him, if the story arc containing his crowning villainous achievement, Knightfall, is wiped from continuity?? The same applies for pretty much any iconic character, whether they be a super villain like Lex Luthor or Dr. Doom or Magneto, or superhero.
And I'm not even going to get into how multiple origins and multiple histories of a character only serve to confuse readers and make the character even more impenetrable, and therefore drive readers away.
So, when you say "why should they keep the history?" to me that sounds like a really stupid question because that history is what these characters are built on and why we even care about them.