diff --git a/markdown_view/__init__.py b/markdown_view/__init__.py
index 41aa256..09468fa 100644
--- a/markdown_view/__init__.py
+++ b/markdown_view/__init__.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
     "MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTENSIONS": list,
     "MARKDOWN_VIEW_BASE_DIR": str,
     "MARKDOWN_VIEW_TEMPLATE": str,
+    "MARKDOWN_VIEW_USE_REQUEST_CONTEXT": bool,
+    "MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTRA_CONTEXT": dict
 }
 
 # Validate settings types.
diff --git a/markdown_view/constants.py b/markdown_view/constants.py
index 209b036..b723cd1 100644
--- a/markdown_view/constants.py
+++ b/markdown_view/constants.py
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+from markdown_view.markdown_extensions import ImageExtension
+
 DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_LOADERS = ["markdown_view.loaders.MarkdownLoader", ]
-DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTENSIONS = ["tables", "fenced_code", "toc", ]
-DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_TEMPLATE = "markdown_view/markdown.html"
\ No newline at end of file
+DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTENSIONS = ["tables", "fenced_code", "toc", ImageExtension(), ]
+DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_TEMPLATE = "markdown_view/markdown.html"
+DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_USE_REQUEST_CONTEXT = False
+DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTRA_CONTEXT = {}
diff --git a/markdown_view/views.py b/markdown_view/views.py
index 72e0874..b16dfc5 100644
--- a/markdown_view/views.py
+++ b/markdown_view/views.py
@@ -3,12 +3,14 @@
 import markdown
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.auth.mixins import LoginRequiredMixin, UserPassesTestMixin
-from django.template import Engine
+from django.template import Engine, Template, Context
+from django.template.loader import render_to_string
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.views.generic import TemplateView
 from markdown_view.constants import (
     DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_LOADERS,
     DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTENSIONS, DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_TEMPLATE,
+    DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_USE_REQUEST_CONTEXT, DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTRA_CONTEXT,
 )
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -29,8 +31,26 @@ def get_context_data(self, *args, **kwargs):
                 "MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTENSIONS",
                 DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTENSIONS
             ))
+            template = Template(
+                "{{% load static %}}{}".format(md.convert(template.source))
+            )
+            render_context_base = {}
+            if getattr(
+                settings,
+                "MARKDOWN_VIEW_USE_REQUEST_CONTEXT",
+                DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_USE_REQUEST_CONTEXT
+            ):
+                render_context_base = context
+            render_context = Context({
+                **render_context_base,
+                **(getattr(
+                    settings,
+                    "MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTRA_CONTEXT",
+                    DEFAULT_MARKDOWN_VIEW_EXTRA_CONTEXT
+                ))
+            })
             context.update({
-                "markdown_content": mark_safe(md.convert(template.source)),
+                "markdown_content": mark_safe(template.render(render_context)),
                 "markdown_toc": mark_safe(md.toc),
                 "page_title": mark_safe(md.toc_tokens[0]['name']),
             })