At least The Dark Knight showed how the Joker got his goons-- he just took over the gangs and everyone was too scared to do anything about it.

Japan has a bunch of tropes of their own, especially with the movies.  Kamen Rider, Casshern, and others are typically undead corpses brought back to life by science.  Even Astro Boy qualifies, albeit as a robot and not a zombie.  This frees them familial bonds and obligations and allows them to be free to do battle, even though they're always pacifist and only fight to protect something.  And while we mentioned that heroes and villains are intertwined, the heros and bad guys usually have the same exact origin, and in fact the hero might be a breakaway member of the group.

Food comes up pretty much, in a series a small restaurant is usually a location, and the her not only cooks but also has a religious devotion to a high standard of food.  The women don't cook, but they're also marginalized in a way that puts American super heroes to shame.  It's pretty crazy.