DC didn't do it as a thought experiment. DC did it as a marketing ploy. A rather good one, at that, but "what would modern day Stan Lee with all the knowledge of 60+ years of this character have done if he created this character 40 years ago from scratch" doesn't quite fit the bill of the thought experiment. Might as well ask what if Peelee had invented calculus instead of Liebniz and Newton, if we're going to go the route that DC did.