The test for Henry Cavill getting the role of Superman was to put on the iconic suit and wear it in front of the production team. And nobody laughed at him in the suit. That was the clincher. So the suit's important.
On another front, IMHO the reason Tom Welling and Smallville lasted so long was that he never put on the suit. He did put it on in the last double episode, but we never saw him full length except for a really long shot.
I think what killed the Wonder Woman reboot was the argument over the costume.
Artemis
