diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_image.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_image.py
index 09fc61e6b08..e6cfd87ab43 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_image.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_image.py
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     HAS_DOCKER_CLIENT = False
 
+DEFAULT_DOCKER_API_VERSION = None
 if HAS_DOCKER_CLIENT:
     try:
         from docker.errors import APIError as DockerAPIError