I m a strong supporter of the WP WAF guideline but I don t think it suggests we should grammatically treat fictional characters as inanimate objects that s just not how English works That interpretation would lead to truly absurd text It fights an assortment of villains assisted by its crime fighting partner Robin Of course not The only reason that sounds less glaringly wrong is because it is increasingly common to use that when referring to people however doing so is still widely considered an error and should be avoided