diff --git a/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h b/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h
index 7da4116c9828..244a179c51ea 100644
--- a/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h
+++ b/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h
@@ -485,6 +485,8 @@ public:
 
   static imgILoader* GetImgLoader()
   {
+    if (!sImgLoaderInitialized)
+      InitImgLoader();
     return sImgLoader;
   }
 
@@ -1688,6 +1690,10 @@ private:
   // For old compatibility of RegisterPrefCallback
   static nsCOMArray<nsPrefOldCallback> *sPrefCallbackList;
 
+  static bool sImgLoaderInitialized;
+  static void InitImgLoader();
+
+  // The following two members are initialized lazily
   static imgILoader* sImgLoader;
   static imgICache* sImgCache;
 
diff --git a/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp b/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp
index dc37d0b6883f..9301691eb75e 100644
--- a/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp
+++ b/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp
@@ -409,17 +409,6 @@ nsContentUtils::Init()
   rv = CallGetService(NS_UNICHARCATEGORY_CONTRACTID, &sGenCat);
   NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
 
-  // Ignore failure and just don't load images
-  rv = CallGetService("@mozilla.org/image/loader;1", &sImgLoader);
-  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
-    // no image loading for us.  Oh, well.
-    sImgLoader = nsnull;
-    sImgCache = nsnull;
-  } else {
-    if (NS_FAILED(CallGetService("@mozilla.org/image/cache;1", &sImgCache )))
-      sImgCache = nsnull;
-  }
-
   rv = CallGetService(NS_IHISTORY_CONTRACTID, &sHistory);
   if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
     NS_RUNTIMEABORT("Cannot get the history service");
@@ -463,6 +452,25 @@ nsContentUtils::Init()
   return NS_OK;
 }
 
+bool nsContentUtils::sImgLoaderInitialized;
+
+void
+nsContentUtils::InitImgLoader()
+{
+  sImgLoaderInitialized = true;
+
+  // Ignore failure and just don't load images
+  nsresult rv = CallGetService("@mozilla.org/image/loader;1", &sImgLoader);
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
+    // no image loading for us.  Oh, well.
+    sImgLoader = nsnull;
+    sImgCache = nsnull;
+  } else {
+    if (NS_FAILED(CallGetService("@mozilla.org/image/cache;1", &sImgCache )))
+      sImgCache = nsnull;
+  }
+}
+
 PRBool
 nsContentUtils::InitializeEventTable() {
   NS_ASSERTION(!sAtomEventTable, "EventTable already initialized!");
@@ -2383,6 +2391,9 @@ nsContentUtils::CanLoadImage(nsIURI* aURI, nsISupports* aContext,
 PRBool
 nsContentUtils::IsImageInCache(nsIURI* aURI)
 {
+    if (!sImgLoaderInitialized)
+        InitImgLoader();
+
     if (!sImgCache) return PR_FALSE;
 
     // If something unexpected happened we return false, otherwise if props